Mysteries Revealed
by the.hungry.mockingjay
Summary: Sequel to Mysteries Made. Follow the tributes through the Hunger Games. Find out who will be loved and who will be lost on their journey of survival.
1. Katniss Everdeen

~Katniss~

**Previously on Mystery Made...**

"_Welcome, welcome, welcome. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor." she says in her very peppy voice, as she always is. "Now before we begin, we have a very special film, brought to you all the way from the Capitol." she says gesturing to a big television screen where a video has started to play, it's the same thing every year._

"_War. Terrible war..." the President's voice rang through the Town Square. I have heard this for the past four years, I could recite it by heart. So I tune it out but perk back up when Effie begins talking again._

"_I just love that." she says. "Now the time has come to select one courageous young man and woman, for the honor of representing District Twelve in the 74th annual Hunger Games. As usual, ladies first." she finally finishes. She strides over to the bowl of girls names, swivels her hand around the top of the bowl before digging her hand down into the center of the bowl and pulling out a name. She walks back over to the microphone and fiddles with the small piece of paper, mumbling while she tries to open it. _

"_Primrose Everdeen!" she reads and her face goes from a look of happiness to shock as she recognizes the last name, my name. My whole body is numb, I can't feel a thing. She regains composure and calls to her. "Come on up my dear." she says, knowing that I would volunteer for my sister. Prim slowly makes her ay up to the stage, not getting half way there before my voice rips out of me._

"_I volunteer!"_

"I volunteer as Tribute!" I shout as I fought the Peacekeepers that are trying to block me from Prim. They finally let go of me and Prim's arms wrapped themselves around me.

"I believe we have a volunteer." Effie says in shock, she knew I would do this. But I turn to Prim and ignore Effie.

"Prim go find mom."

"No." she mutters.

"Prim go find mom." I repeat in urgency. She screams again as Gale picks her up and pulls her away. I make my way up to the stage as Effie asks for my name. "Katniss Everdeen." I reply monotone.

"Well I bet my hat that was your sister." she says acting like she doesn't know me for the cameras.

"Yes." I tell her.

"Let's hear a round of applause for our first volunteer, Katniss Everdeen." she says and starts to clap alone. Everybody else takes their three middle fingers, presses them to their lips, and holds them out to me, as a sign of respect. "And now for the boys." Effie says a little impatiently and walks over to the bowls, picks a boys name out immediately and reads the name off into the microphone. "Peeta Mellark." she calls. No. Not my best friend,I thought, this wasn't fair. He walks up and stands on stage. We shake hands and he tries not to cry. My body is too numb to do anything. Soon I'm ushered into the same room I was in when I first went to the Academy. My family was the first to see me.

"You have three minutes." a Peacekeeper says before he closes the door behind them. Prim runs to me with tear filled eyes.

"It's going to be okay Prim." I tell her and I sit down with her in front of me. "I don't have much time. Listen Prim, don't take anymore food, its not worth putting your name in more times. Gale will bring you game, and you can sell cheese from Lady." I instructed her.

"Just try to win, maybe you can."

"Maybe I can, I am smart you know." I tell her.

"And you've trained, and you can hunt."

"Exactly." I agree. She holds out the Mockingjay Pin I gave her this morning.

"To protect you." she says and I kiss her on the forehead.

"Thank you." I look up to my mom and stand up. "It's just like with the Academy, you can't tune out and you have to be there for her. Promise?"

"I promise." she agreed.

"Promise me you'll try to win?" Prim says.

"I promise." I say as a Peacekeeper comes in to take them away. She screams no as they pull her out the door. The next one to come in is Gale. He storms straight in and pulls me into a hug.

"I'm okay." I assure him.

"I know." he responds. "Listen to me," he says puling away to look me in the face. "get to a bow." he orders.

"They may not have-"

"They will if you show them how good you are. They just want a good show that's all they want. And you can hunt, it'll help you."

"Animals." I remind him.

"It's no different Catnip." he says to me before he's pulled out of the room by the Peacekeepers. Madge is the last one to come and visit me, with tears in her eyes.

"You have to come home. You have to!" she wales.

"What about Peeta?" I ask her and she sniffs.

"He says he'll do anything to get you home." she told me and I'm suddenly a little irritated with him. He's willing to give up a fighting chance for me? But I don't want to think about that now.

"Make sure my mom and Prim will be okay. You and Gale can't let them starve." I told her.

"I promise." she says and is too pulled away from me by the Peacekeepers. Effie escorts Peeta and I to the train and it's much nicer than the one that took me to the Academy. Peeta marvels at the extravagance of the train while I just let it go. Effie walks off to find Haymitch through one door while he comes in drunkenly through the opposite door. Once he spots me he groans.

"Oh no not you." he says disappointed.

"Sorry to disappoint." I snap at him. He sits down, a little sober and looks at Peeta, his chin rested in his hand.

"And what can you do? I know Sweetheart over here has been at the Academy, but what about you?" and the conversation went on, and I ignored it. Letting reality finally dawn on me. I am in the 74th Hunger Games, the same year that Clove and Cato volunteered. And I have no idea if this situation will allow them to be able to kill me or not.

~Cato~

Sitting on the train is absolutely boring. We sit here watching the recaps of the Reapings and we are in District 5, Luna hadn't been Reaped, much to Clove's happiness, she sat in a chair with her knees pulled to her chest while I lazily sat on the couch before standing up.

"Well the rest of the District's will be no competition, I'm going to my room." I say grumpily. I don't even bother to see if Spitfire is in any of the Reapings after that. If she was in a District that would come train at the Academy, she would be in the first five, but she wasn't so I left. Some time later I hear shouting for the main room on the car.

"What!" I hear Clove shout. "I won't kill her I refuse!" she shouts again before storming towards her room. I open the door just as she is about to close her.

"What happened?" I asked her and she only glared at me.

"Katniss Everdeen. That is what happened." she says before slamming her door shut. Who the hell is Katniss Everdeen?


	2. You Wanted To Know

~Cato~

Going through preparations for the Tribute parade was absolutely horrible. I had been shaved, waxed, tweezed, and all sorts of things. I could hear girls screaming or moaning from the pain of their make-overs in other rooms. They wanted to shave a certain part of my body but I threatened to kill my prep team if they went near it. After they were done trying to make me prettier than I already am, they fitted me into a gold roman metal suit. They were putting the headdress on me when Clove came out in a similar outfit as me. She was mad, that much I could tell, but I didn't know how much.

"Still mad about _Katniss Everdeen_?" I asked, sneering her name.

"You still don't know who she is do you?" she asked me, her voice mixed with shock and anger. I rolled my eyes at her.

"If she's that much competition, then we'll just kill her first thing in the Bloodbath." I said to her as I got onto the chariot, saying it like it was nothing. Which really it was nothing.

"I can't believe you just said that." she said looking down, shaking her head in disappointment.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her as the chariot took off.

"You'll see soon enough." she told me, setting her face ready for the crowd as it came into view. The crowd roared when they saw us, we lifted our hands and waved to them, girls swooned when I smirked or winked at them. People were screaming our names, that is until another name floated into my ears.

"Katniss! Katniss!"

"She's on fire!" I heard someone shout.

"Girl on Fire! Girl on Fire!" was shouted from the seats. The jealousy boiled up in me until I saw the face that lit up the big screens. It was her. Her silver eyes stared at you, seeing your soul. Her hair was up in a maze of braids with a black headdress adorning her head. And she was on fire. Spitfire was literally on fire. But she looked amazing, like a goddess. Jealousy in me grew even more when I saw her holding hands with her Tribute Partner and everybody screamed louder. I wasn't jealous of the attention, I was jealous of the contact. I turned and glared at Clove.

"You knew!" I roared at her and she just shrugged.

"Who did you think I would refuse to kill? Why do you think I'm so mad about it? You know if you just stayed and watched the recaps then you would know and be just as angry as I am." she glowered at me.

"I can't believed she actually volunteered. She didn't have to." I said thinking out loud.

"Again you should've watched the recaps." she scolded me. We finally ended the parade and were standing there while President Snow makes his speech. As he talked I looked at Spitfire, I mean Katniss. She glanced at me and looked away quickly when she saw me staring at her. When the speech was over we were dragged off back into the Tribute Building to meet with our mentors, stylists, and escorts. I watched Katniss, man it'll take some getting used to calling her that, as she talked with everyone on her team, still holding hands with her tribute partner. Her Mentor, Haymitch, noticed my staring and pulled them off to the elevator. I started to go after them but Brutus stopped me putting a hand on my chest..

"Not now." he warned.

"Then when?" I said in a threatening voice.

"Tonight after dinner. I'll send an Avox up with a message telling them to expect you." he said looking between Clove and I. "And Clove too." he said, allowing her to have a smug grin on her face.

"Fine." I said before stalking off to the elevator.

I jammed the button for the doors to open and soon enough they did, before everybody could get in the elevator with me I pressed button #2 to go to my floor. As the elevator took off I slammed my hands on the wall and screamed. Why did she have to be here? This ruins everything. I was going to win. I was going to win for her. So I could find her and explain everything to her. And in hopes that everything would go right, she would return it all. But now that she's here I can't do any of that.

When the doors opened on my floor I stalked off to my bedroom, changing out of my stupid costume and stepping into the shower to clear my head. After some time I heard Brutus bang on my door telling me that dinner was ready. Had I been in here for that long? Sighing, I got out of the shower and changed into regular clothing so I could go eat and see Katniss, or Spitfire, or whoever the hell she is! I walked out of my room to the dining room to find everybody sitting at the table eating an assortment of foods.

"Did you send a message?" I asked out loud. There was a moment of silence before Brutus spoke up again.

"As soon as we got here." Brutus said. I nodded and continued eating my dinner. After we had eaten, the three of them suggested that I sit and watch the Recaps of the Reapings. I watched as a little girl was Reaped but then Spitfire volunteered. It was her sister, she got Reaped on her first year. It's unfair that she had to get Reaped, and her sister had to go into the Hunger Games to protect her. I could see the sisterly love they shared as the older of the two coaxed the younger one to go find their mom. It was a sad sight to see I will admit. Now I really needed to talk to her. Eventually when I was done watching I stood there and waited for Clove to finished talking to Enobaria but I was getting impatient so I grabbed her and dragged her to the elevator and pressed the button for the twelfth floor. This thing couldn't go fast enough.

"Will you just calm down?" Clove begged of me sounding annoyed.

"Why should I? She lied to all of us!"

"She didn't lie. There is a difference between lying and not telling. And she told us straight out that she wasn't going to tell us." Clove said to me as the door dinged open. We walked out and saw Haymitch and the male Tribute sitting in the living room.

"Cato and Clove right?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, who are you?" Clove asked back.

"I'm Peeta, Katniss's best friend, or one of them." he said looking between me and Clove. I took off towards the bedroom to find her but Haymitch's voice stopped me.

"She's on the roof." he said and Clove bolted to the stairs as I followed her. It was faster than getting back in the elevator up to the roof.

~Katniss~

They know, they finally know and I can't do a thing to stop it. When we got the message that Cato and Clove wanted to talk to me after they ate dinner, I became nervous. Would Clove still be my friend now that she knows I'm from Twelve? What will Cato do? That's what worries me the most. I stood on the roof, looking out over the screaming people in the streets, when the door opened and I heard two pairs of feet walk in my direction.

"This is what you've been hiding?" a male voice said. Cato. I didn't have to turn to know it was him. I turned slowly to see him standing there with his arms at his sides and Clove next to him, her face twisting with sadness and anger.

"Yeah, it's what I've been hiding. You wanted to know everything." I said to them and they nodded. "My name is Katniss Everdeen, I'm from District 12, I volunteered for my sister so she didn't have to go into the Games. My best friend is in this with me, and he saved my life when I was about to die of starvation. And my dad died in a mine explosion. Anything else you'd like to know?" I questioned as they took it all in.

"Why didn't you tell anybody, why hide it?" Clove asked curiously. I sighed and turned back to the ledge, resting my hands on it and using them to support my weight.

"Because I didn't want anybody to use my weakness against me. Because I didn't want people to see me as weak or unworthy." I said not looking at either of them.

"What about your weapon?" Cato asked walking up next to me. I turned away from him and scoffed.

"I'm sure as hell never telling you that until you figure it out in the Games." I said.

"This ruins everything." I heard Cato mumble.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him. I noticed Clove slowly backing away, feeling like she was intruding on a private conversation.

"If I won, I was going to find you, like you said, in order for me to know who you are one of us would have to go into the Games and win, I was going to make that me. I don't care that you're from Twelve. I honestly don't! It just puts me in such awe of you that you had the skills to make it to the Academy."

"I've had enough life experience to allow me to qualify for the Academy."

"And I want to know what that is. I wasn't going to force it out of you anymore. I was going to win. I was going to win and find you so I could tell you why I was acting the way that I was back at the Academy."

"Explain what?" I asked him.

"It doesn't matter anymore." he said glumly. I sighed and nodded.

"I'm not going to force it out of you." I told him.

"Because I finally stopped trying to force it out of you?" he tried to joke.

"Yeah." I said quietly. It was quiet for a few moments. But it was comfortable so I didn't complain.

"Do I have to call you Katniss or can I still call you Spitfire?" he asked me out of the blue.

"I don't care what you call me." I told him.

"Well it seems people like the name Girl on Fire." he pointed out, I grimaced at the thought. "You don't like that name?" he inquired.

"No, it's okay I guess. Just every time I think of fire I think of my dad." I told him, tears brimming my eyes. I could feel his eyes on me then his hand run down my back and I shivered. He was about to say something, to prolong this conversation, but I didn't want to talk about it. So I interrupted him. "It's getting late, we should get to bed." I said quickly and he nodded, following me to the stairs so we could get back to my floor so he can go to his own. When the doors opened I went straight to sit next to Peeta in the living room. Even during these Games, Peeta and I were still best friends. He saw that I was almost in tears so he pulled me into a hug. I didn't even care if Cato was standing right there watching this exchange, I just want to ignore him at the moment.

~Cato~

I stood there, jealousy raging, as she walked into the arms of Lover Boy. I could tell that he was hiding something from her, it's easy to see but she seems oblivious to it. I was still staring, or well glaring, when Haymitch walked over to me and whispered.

"It's not polite to stare boy."

"Why him?" I whispered back and he shoved me into the elevator and followed me in.

"What?" he asked after we took off down to the second floor.

"Why him? Why does she trust him?"

"They've been friends for as long as I can remember. She told you everything right?" he asked me and I nodded. "He saved her life when she and her family were dying. Where she lives in Twelve, food is very hard to come by but when he gave her some, they've been friends ever since. She was nine when that happened. He's given her reason to trust him. What have you done?" he questioned me, sounding angry.

"Nothing, because I can't do what I wanted to do. She's here now and it ruins every plan I had of winning and making things right." I said as the doors to my floor opened. I stalked out and left the usually drunk mentor standing there confused. As I walked to my room I saw Clove standing in her doorway. "What happened to you up there?" I asked stopping in front of her.

"You two seemed to be having a moment. So what happened after I left?" she asked for gossip.

"Nothing really. We just talked." I said not wanting to talk about her hugging her tribute partner.

"There's something you're not telling me." she said giving me an inquisitive look.

"No there isn't." I denied, but she knew me too well.

"Yes there is. What happened?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay so when we got back to her floor she went and hugged her tribute partner-"

"Oh yeah Peeta." Clove interrupted.

"What?" I asked her.

"I actually paid attention to the Reapings. Now continue." she commanded.

"I'll admit that I was jealous. Then Haymitch told me that Lover Boy-I mean Peeta, saved her life when they were younger. And they've been best friends ever since." I explained to her. She nodded and got this thinking look on her face. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about why you didn't tell her how you feel." she said with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"I didn't tell her because I can't now. One of us is going to die in a matter of days. What if she returns how I feel and either of us have to live without the other? I'm not about to put either of us through the heartbreak." I told her.

"Wow. Cato Hart actually has a heart." she observed.

"Don't sound so shocked. I really like her but I don't think she likes me."

"Okay, she must have you whipped because what the hell happened to you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You! You are seriously second guessing yourself. What happened to your confidence in getting the girl?"

"Ever since I met her it's been declining." I said turning towards my door to my room.

"Wait!" she called.

"What?"

"Are we going to let her in the alliance?" she asked and I cocked an eyebrow at her. "I mean, she trained at the Academy, and the committee wanted her to volunteer this year. So she's gotta be good. Brutus sad we should let her in and to protect her. Are we going to have her join?"

"Only if she wants to. But we'll offer it to her and protect her even if she doesn't join." I said before finally going into my room and collapsing onto my bed, letting sleep take over me.

~Brutus~

I stood with my ear pressed against the door of my room, listening to Clove and Cato talk about Spitfire. I don't care if she's in the Hunger Games now, I'm still going to call her Spitfire. When I heard Cato admit that he was jealous of the District Twelve boy, Peeta, I nearly fell over. But then after I heard him say that he really likes her, I almost passed out. He likes her, but I know that's not true, I can tell that he loves her. But the problem is the Games. They are both in it. Does Haymitch know about the two of them? Does he know that Cato feels for Spitfire. I doubt that he does. And I need to be the one to tell him. Maybe he and I could get them out of the Games. Together. I walked to the elevator, not caring if anybody heard it, and pressed the 12 button. When I arrived I walked into the apartment and saw Haymitch on the couch asleep, or passed out. I grabbed a glass of cold water and dumped it on him.

"What the hell?" he shouted as he woke up.

"Shut up you drunk we gotta talk." I told him.

"Nice to see you too Brutus." he snapped. "Now what do you want."

"We have a situation with our Tributes." I told him vaguely.

"What kind of situation?" he asked suspiciously.

"It seems that one of our Tributes likes the other."

"You mean Cato likes Katniss?"

"How did you know?" I questioned.

"I could see the jealousy in his eyes a mile away when Sweetheart hugged Peeta." he explained.

"Sweetheart?" I chuckled.

"I've always called her that. Now what do you want me to do about the situation?"

"Help me figure out a way to get them out." I stated bluntly.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"How are we supposed to get them out? There's only ever one winner." he reminded.

"But these Capitol citizens are suckers for a good story. If we give them something good enough Snow will have no choice."

"Assuming they both make it to the finale alive."

"And I know they both will. I've trained them well." I said confidently and he rolled his eyes.

"Okay give me the day to think and I'll let you know tomorrow." he said and I nodded, bid him goodnight, and got back in the elevator to go down to the second floor to go to bed.


	3. All In Due Time

~Katniss~

My palms sweat as I walked into the Training Room. Twenty two pairs of eyes were on me and Peeta as we came through the doors. Their faces displaying everything like an open book, their emotion, their envy, and their hate for us for out-shining them in the Tribute Parade last night. As if sending the flames back at us, only real ones instead of synthetic. White flames of anger bubbled up in me as they kept staring.

"Why do they keep looking at us?" Peeta asked completely missing the obvious that my hunter skills have picked up.

"Because they want to kill us with our own flames." I hissed back at him like coal in a raging fire. The eyes of the Tributes turned away as Atala started and instruct us on what to do. But there was one pair, however, of angry eyes that stayed on me the entire time. And they belonged to one person, and one alone. The icy, cold, murderous stare of Cato. As she was talking I looked around the room at the various choices of weapons. My eyes caught sight of the archery station, but Peeta nudged me with his arm and got me to stop staring at them and look at other stuff. Just in time too, because Cato noticed me looking at something and tried to follow my line of sight. Once she dismissed us Peeta took my arm to stop me from going over to the archery station.

"Remember what Haymitch said." he reminded me.

"I know, not to show your skills. I hate it when he's right." I complained and he chuckled. He jerked his head towards the Knot Tying station and I nodded, following him over to the surprised trainer standing there, happy to have some students. After about an hour of tying knots and mastering a few, the two of us moved over to the Fire Building station to learn how to set fires. I managed to get the hang of it and had to help Peeta a few times, when he almost caught on fire himself I couldn't help but chuckle. Despite the current situation the two of us are in, we couldn't help but laugh at some moments. We gained a couple of watchers when we laughed or chuckle together, and when we did we quieted down quite a bit. Even when their eyes turned away they kept glancing at us. And it was after the third time that we laughed that we became serious about what we were doing.

Cato kept staring at me, and I knew why, because I was here in this training room with him. He had never seen me train before and was probably curious to see what I could do. But I was going to listen to Haymitch and not show anything. And I could see that he was getting angry about it. Eventually Peeta and I ended up at the camouflage station and I watched as he painted his arm to look like a tree.

"Hey I think you have a shadow." Peeta said looking over my shoulder. I turned and saw the little girl from District Eleven. Rue. She is so small, so innocent. She didn't deserve this, she shouldn't be here. She is like Prim, neither of them should've been here, but sadly there is nothing I could do for Rue except keep her alive in the Games for as long as I can.

~Cato~

What was she doing? She wasn't showing off any skills. Plus she was sticking by her District partner's side the entire time. Why was she doing the survival skills rather than show off the skills she learned at the Academy? That's what's going to get her sponsors. So what the hell is she doing? I couldn't help but get jealous when she and the boy, Peeta laughed together. Why are they laughing? Oh yeah because they were best friends back home, in Twelve. District Twelve, I still can't believe that's where she's from. Now that I look at her, I recognize the tan skin and gray eyes from her District. And the way she moves and is built, she doesn't seem like she is from Twelve. And it isn't from her training back in Two, she was built when she came. What is it that made her the way she is, the distant look is always in her eyes now, except when she is with Peeta and sometimes Clove.

"Will you quit staring at her? You're making yourself look bad and the Gamemakers suspicious. They can't know that we know her, at least not now." Clove warned and I looked away from Katniss to the Gamemakers. They were in fact noticing me watching the District Twelve pair. I shook my head and went back to throwing spears. "What wrong with you anyway?" Clove asked.

"I just have some unanswered questions. That's all." I said turning to grab another spear.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like why _she _isn't working with weapons and showing off her skills that could get her sponsors? She was strong even before she came to the Academy to train with us. So how was she so strong? How did she earn that eight to get her there? Peeta as well, he looks strong, not as strong as me or Eleven but still strong."

"From what I hear, his family owns a bakery back in Twelve, so that explains his muscle, as for Katniss, I have no idea. That's still a secret she is hell bent on keeping." Clove told me and I nodded.

"So what do we do? Act like we don't know her until we get in the arena? Or do we sit with her at lunch and act like you did back in Two?" I asked becoming more and more sarcastic. I wanted to sit with Katniss, she always had that hard exterior in Two, but here she still has it but not as pronounced, her face was void of emotions. Why?

"You mean how she and I were friends and you two weren't speaking to each other? Yeah cause that'll make for a good lunch." Clove said to me with a tinge of attitude.

"I wish I could change that." I muttered loud enough for her to hear me.

"I'm sorry what?" she said acting like she didn't hear me.

"You know what I said." I bit back.

"Yes I did, but what are you going to do?" she asked then lowering her voice. "Confess that you love her in the middle of the Games and hope that you both can go home? Cause that'll happen. I know that you like her and want to be happy with her but one of us is going to come out alive. What are you going to do if she doesn't make it?" she asked me and I was at a loss for words. I don't know what I would do. I would make sure that her family is okay though, I owe her that much for all that I have put her through at the Academy. The bell for lunch rang and I watched as Katniss, Peeta, and the little girl from Eleven, Rue, walked through the doors to the small cafeteria to eat lunch. The little girl must remind Katniss of her sister, they look about the same age. And they both look so innocent. During lunch the three of them sat together and I could see that Clove wanted to go sit with them but she refrained from doing it. I guess we are going to act like we don't know her until we go into the Arena. As they three of them ate their lunch they talked and told stories, Peeta talked about the different types of bread in a basket that sat on their table, probably talking about the different ones from different Districts. Rue watched him with interested eyes, while Katniss looked fidgety, constantly tapping her fingers against the table.

"What are you staring at Cato?" Glimmer asked flirtatiously and looked in the direction of Katniss, and scoffed. "Ew what would you want with District Twelve scum?" she asked.

"Well the boy seems to be strong." Marvel commented, thus answering for me. We all gave him a perplexed look. I was more shocked that he isn't as stupid as he seems. "What? It's true, and the girl from Twelve looks like she's hiding something, she seems strong too." he looked at all of our confused faces and confirmed my suspicions. "I'm not that stupid you know."

"Whatever. They'll die in the Bloodbath. I'll kill them myself." Glimmer said with disgust and Clove's hand clenched. My own was gripping a fork so hard I bent it. While Glimmer sat there and continued to demean Katniss, I stood from my seat and stormed back into the training room. Within a few minutes of pacing I heard the door open and saw Katniss walking through the door.

"Done eating already Spitfire." I sneered at her.

"As it turns out." she bit back. She walked over to another survival skill station and got to work on it, she was matching edible and non-edible plants together. She seemed to be doing well too.

"What are you doing?" I asked her almost annoyed as I walked over to her.

"What are you talking about?" she replied turning to look at me. I backed her up against the wall with my hands on either side of her head, cornering her with my face mere centimeters away form hers.

"You've spent two years like me, you trained, and yet you aren't showing any skills with weapons to get any sponsors."

"Maybe that's the point." she replied, looking deep into my eyes. Her gray, no silver eyes boring into mine.

"Huh?"

"Maybe the point of me not showing my skills is so nobody else will know it until the Arena." she explained, lightly placing her hands on my chest and pushing me away, and I let her. A tingle erupted from where her hands rested on my chest. It felt good, this feeling that her touch gave me. Did she feel the same thing when she touched me? Or when I touched her?

"Still have secrets don't you?" I asked her, crossing my arms, and smirking trying to ignore the tingling sensation for the moment. She shook her head at me and gave me her own smirk.

"All will be revealed in due time." she said almost playfully then backed away when more people started to file into the room. To hide any suspicions, I backed away from her to the other side of the room. When Peeta came in two people later she nodded to him and they walked to the camouflage station again. I watched them as he painted his arm in various ways and she watched him with curious eyes. He was good, almost too good.

"You have got to stop staring at her." Clove said walking up behind me and I glance at her.

"I can't help it. There's something about her that-"

"Made you fall in love with her. I get it. Will you just tell her already?" she said, interrupting me, and walking away before I could reply back. I grunted and walked back to the sword station, and begun swinging one back and forth, chopping up a dummy until the end of training hours. Before I knew it the day was over and Katniss and I were the last ones to leave. As we stepped into the elevator I tried to start up a conversation.

"I understand why you are hiding your skills."

"Oh?"

"It's the same as why you hid your identity, so people can't use it against you." I told her and she chuckled slightly.

"You confuse me Cato." she said, staring at the elevator doors.

"How?"

"Around everybody else you're cold and heartless. But when we are alone your demeanor changes. You aren't the brutal killer you're trying to play off. You're more nice and calm. And I'm not in the mood for head games."

"Who says I'm playing head games?"

"Prove to me that you're not." she said as the doors opened to the second floor. I took her hand and dragged her to the apartment, feeling the same sensation from earlier. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm sure everybody would like to see you outside the training room." I said looking back at her with a smirk. She gave a small smile as I opened the door to find Clove, Brutus, and Enobaria sitting in the living room.

"Well look who it is." Brutus said standing up to greet her. Clove got up and hugged Katniss who returned it.

"I'm not mad at why you're here. I totally understand." Clove said to her.

"I know." The older girl told the younger. I smiled softly at the two of them, this must be how Katniss acts around her sister. Clove pulled away from Katniss and turned to Brutus with annoyance.

"You knew that she would volunteer for her sister."

"Yes." he replied indifferently

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"Ask her yourself." he said gesturing to Katniss. I turned to her with expectancy and she looked at her feet.

"It was all part of what I was hiding." she said and I nodded. She turned away for a second but I stopped her by gripping her arm lightly.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked her quietly, we both looked at the other three people in the room who left to go about their own business and looked back at each other. "Privately?" I finished and she nodded. I lead her back to my room where we could talk in private. I could feel her grow nervous as we got closer and closer to the destination. "Don't worry I'm not going to take advantage of you. I just want to talk." I reassured with a chuckle and she nodded as I opened the door and walked in.

"So what did you want to talk about?" she asked as I closed the door tightly behind us.

"I wanted to talk about what we are going to do once we get into the Arena."

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm not joining the Careers if that's what you mean." she clarified and I just chuckled again.

"No that's not what I mean, and that option is completely up to you. No I wanted to talk about what we are going to do. Clove refuses to kill you, Rue or Peeta. And I'm right there with her." I said moving to sit on the bed.

"What does Rue have to do with this?"

"It's no lie that she reminds you and Peeta of your sister. Killing Rue would be like killing your little sister. And Peeta is your best friend." I explained to her and she looked at me surprised.

"Um, thank you. That means a lot." she said as she walked over and sat on the bed next to me.

"Your welcome." I replied placing my hand on top of hers.

"So how about this. I won't kill you or Clove if you two don't kill me, Peeta, or Rue. Deal?" she offered and I chuckled.

"I wasn't planning on killing the three of you anyway and what makes you think that you could kill me or Clove?" I challenged jokingly. I looked at her and she smirked.

"You don't know my skills. I could probably kill you in your sleep." she said with some seriousness. I laughed out loud and leaned back on my bed, closing my eyes, putting my hands behind my head, and taking a deep breath.

"What makes you think that you could kill me?" I asked her, my eyes still closed.

"The fact that I'm almost out the door and you didn't notice." she said and I shot up in time to see her hair fly through the door. I took off after her and missed the elevators. So I sprinted out of the room to the stairs and raced up to the twelfth floor, a bit winded when I got there. When I arrived at her apartment I saw her standing in front of her Mentor who looked upset.

"What's going on?" I asked out loud. Katniss turned to me looking even more upset and her arms crossed.

"You." Haymitch said pointing a finger at me. "Go back to your floor. This doesn't concern you." he said pointing towards the elevator.

"Haymitch calm down, nothing is going on." she defended.

"My ass." he snapped, glaring at her. She rolled her eyes, groaned and walked away. He shook his head at the ground and looked at me. "Get back to your floor." he said and took off after Katniss, her spitfire attitude really coming out. As I stood there waiting for it I heard the two of them arguing.

"I don't see what the problem is! You had no problem when you saw me on the Victory Tour or when I was training at the Academy. What changed?" she asked.

"What changed is is that this is the Hunger Games!" he roared. "And he's a damn Career and so is Clove. I don't want you anywhere near them. They may have been your friends back in District Two but they have been training for years. It's easy for them to cut the ties."

"We made a deal not to kill each other! They won't kill me, Rue, or Peeta. And I won't kill them."

"And how do you know they'll honor that? They are Careers Sweetheart. You may have known them for two years but how well do you really know them? How do you know they won't kill you?" he questioned. His voice ringing through the penthouse. It worried me. Did she not trust us? Trust me? Questions ran through my head until I heard someone speak again. "I don't want you spending time with either of the District Two Tributes. You are to leave the training room with Peeta and stick with him at all times. Understood?"

"Fine." I heard her say, the elevator dinged telling me it had arrived. Katniss had come through from where ever they were talking, paused to look at me and I could see tears in her eyes, yet not spilling over. Shaking her head she stormed into her room and slammed the door. Their Escort, Effie, I think her name was walked out of her room muttering about yelling.

"I swear these people from Twelve have the worst manners. Constantly yelling, oh-" she said noticing me standing there. "Is there something I can help you with dear?" she asked me just as Haymitch walked in. I glared at him and clenched my hands into fists.

"Nothing." I said through gritted teeth and stepped into the elevator to go down to my floor. Once the doors had closed I punched the wall, leaving a dent, and making the lights flicker for a second. When I got back to my floor I stalked straight to my room, ignoring any questions or comments from anybody that I passed. That night I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing with questions about Katniss.

Does she trust me?

Does she trust Clove?

Does she trust us?

Will she defy her mentor and try to talk to us?

What had so suddenly changed that Haymitch doesn't want her to see us?

There was a pounding on my door and I didn't even answer it. Brutus barged into the room demanding answers.

"What the hell is going on? You missed dinner, stormed in here with no excuse what so ever. Now what the hell is wrong?" he demanded with a hard glare on his face. I sat up on my bed and looked at him.

"Haymitch is ordering Katniss to stay away from Clove and I. She isn't allowed to see either of us." I told him and groaned.

"Did anything happen that made him do this?"

"Not that I can think of." I say helplessly. "We made a deal that Clove and I wouldn't kill Peeta, her, or Rue and she wouldn't come after us." I explained to him and he looked at us shocked.

"Really?" he asked scratching his chin. "Does Haymitch know?"

"Yeah but he doesn't think we'll keep the promise." I told him and he groaned.

"Dumb ass Haymitch, I try to work a deal with him and he goes off." He complains out loud.

"What deal?"

"Never you mind boy. Now get something to eat you need your strength." he said walking out of the room.

"If it's about me I should know about it." I shouted, walking out behind him.

"All in due time Cato. Now eat." he ordered as a Avox brought a plate of food and set it on the table. I sat down and did what I was told, hoping to get some sort of clue out of Brutus but he just walked into the hallway. Oh boy.

~Brutus~

Stupid Haymitch. What the hell is going through his mind? We could get these kids out if they were allowed to spend time with each other. If the Capitol thinks that they work good together, who knows what they might want. But Haymitch seems to have other things in mind. So I'm going to go figure out what exactly is going through his head.

As I stepped into the elevator I noticed a big dent in the wall. Must have been from Cato, the boy never was good with his temper when it came to certain things. And this must've been about Spitfire. He has always seemed to have a soft spot for her. The elevator finally arrived in the District Twelve apartment or should I say penthouse if the elevator goes straight to it and not the hallway. I walked through it until I found Haymitch in the kitchen pouring himself something to drink, surprisingly it wasn't alcohol.

"Staying sober?" I asked making him jump.

"Don't sneak up on me and what are you doing here?" he questioned, putting his knife back in his boot, concealing it.

"I want to talk about Cato and Katniss, and why you want them away from each other."

"Ah that."

"Yeah that. What the fuck are you thinking?" I demanded.

"I was thinking a secret romance." he said walking away from me to the balcony. I followed after him with a confused expression gracing my facial features.

"How is it a romance if they can't see each other?"

"If they can't be with each other now, it will drive them crazy. Making them long for each other and want to be near one another. So when they get into the Arena, they'll make sure nothing happens to the other. I already know the deal they made about not killing each other."

"And that will help the situation. Very good Haymitch." I congratulate him, clapping him on the back.

"I try."

"But how do you know they'll long for each other when the are in training?" I questioned.

"Peeta said that Cato and Clove watch Katniss from time to time, wishing they could talk to her. And that Katniss does the same to them. If things work in our favor, a little romance can be played up and we can get them out."

"I know that if Katniss dies, he'll be a wreck. I can tell that he cares about her a lot more than he let's on." I told him, crossing my arms and looking out over the Capitol.

"Katniss is a wreck whenever she loses someone she cares about. Her dad when he died, when her mom went catatonic on her and her sister. If she loses Clove or Cato, two people who cared about her despite how little they knew about her, I don't know what will happen." he explained.

"I can see that they've become attached to each other. On the tour they worried about her when she was "sick" and when they found out about her back and being whipped, Clove nearly cried and Cato got very protective." I told him.

"I think this little plan will work. The odds sound in our favor."


	4. Haymitch's Rules

~Katniss~

Today is the first day I have to follow Haymitch's orders and stick with Peeta the entire time. And I hate it because he spends most of his time at the camouflage station.

"Hey Peeta?" I perk up.

"Yeah Kat?" he asked looking up from his arm that looked like a tree.

"Do you think we could go to another station? I mean we've been at this one for a long time. How about the edible plants station?" I offered, trying not to sound like I'm complaining. His eyes lit up and he nodded.

"Oh yeah, maybe now you can show me all of the plants you ate, no matter how gross they looked." he joked cleaning his arm. I laughed remembering when I tried to get him to eat a plant that looked almost like poison ivy but actually wasn't. When he was finally cleaned off we walked over to the next station and I started telling him about the different plants you could eat and the ones you couldn't. Every now and then I would catch Cato staring at me, wanting to talk to me. He would plead me with his eyes to break my mentor's rules and come talk to him. I would shake my head at him and he look down then away. I turned back to Peeta with a heavy sigh and he looked at me.

"Is District Two giving you a problem?" he asked protectively.

"You know he has a name." I said sounding a little annoyed.

"Yes I know but here and everybody else besides his own District he's known as District Two, not Cato as all of his friends see him." he tried to explain to me.

"Well I consider him a friend." I said stubbornly to him. "So to me, he's Cato." I said walking away from him. He trailed after me though.

"Where are you going? Haymitch said you have to stay by my side."

"Yeah and that also means you have to stay by mine and I am going to another station. And how would Haymitch know if I went to a different station than you? Huh? I'll stay away from him and Clove but I'm getting away from you. You're my friend and I'm doing everything I can not hurt you right now. So before I do something I'll regret, leave me alone." I told him harshly enough to stop him in his tracks while I walked to another station. As I took on the challenge of the Gauntlet I could feel eyes on me. This is something I've never done before, not even in District Two, so I'm not doing very well. I try to dodge the Trainers who are swinging foam covered bats at me, but I end up getting hit once or twice.

As I glance around I see Cato watching me, wincing every time I get hit. As I jump down from the last stage of the Gauntlet I see him watch me closely, the jump is big but I manage to land on my feet just as the lunch bell rang. When I land safely I walk into the cafeteria to eat the lunch provided for us. Both he and Clove watch me as I get in line behind Rue. I smile down at her as she smiles up at me. As I help her reach the food that is too high for her to reach, somebody reaches and grabs the apple I was going to get for her. I look and see that it's Glimmer, from District One.

"Oh I'm sorry were you going to grab this? Well I'm sure you'd be okay without it." she said with fake sweetness. "Being from poor District, you couldn't eat much, why spoil yourself when you're about to die anyways?" she said before skipping off to the Career table. But she was stupid enough to forget about the basket that was full of apples. So I just grabbed one that was bigger than the last and handed it to her.

"Thank you Katniss." she said.

"No problem. Now let's go eat." I told her while we went to sit by Thresh and Peeta. I decided to forgive him and let the whole thing go. I think this is the only time Cato hasn't watched me all day, because he's too busy arguing with Glimmer and Marvel. Clove sat there trying to calm him down but he wasn't having any of it.

"Just don't let it happen again!" he shouted at Glimmer and stormed out of the room. I moved to get up after him but Peeta put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. Clove looked at me confused, unsure of why I didn't follow him. I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. She still looked confused and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Peeta, please." I begged him.

"Kat you can't break Haymitch's rules." he reminded.

"Then you tell her." I told him.

"What?"

"Tell her why I can't go talk to him. Please." I begged again and he nodded. He knows I never beg unless it's important. He sighed and got up to walk out of the room. I gave Clove a look to follow him and thankfully she did.

~Peeta~

I can't believe I'm doing this for Katniss. Yeah I love her and I'd do anything for her, but tell the people who will probably kill her why she can't talk to them? That's way too much. He totally likes her, and is just going to break her heart and kill her. Can I trust him like she does? Probably not. My pacing is interrupted but the girl Tribute from District Two coming into view.

"What's going on?" she demanded of me.

"What does Cato want with Katniss first?" I demanded back. "If he's planning on killing her I'm walking away right now."

"What are you talking about? He doesn't want to kill her! He loves her." she blurted out.

"What?"

"Well he hasn't come out and said it but I can totally tell. Why am I telling you this? It's none of your business." she said with a glare. "Now what is going on?"

"Haymitch forbid her to talk to either of you." I told her.

"Why?"

"I don't know." I told her. On the inside I was happy, because as greedy as it sounds, I'll be able to talk to Katniss, just the two of us. Clove eyed me with a suspicious look before talking again.

"Oh I get it. You like her don't you!" she accused and I looked at her with fake shock.

"What are you talking about?"

"I knew it. You look at her like some lovesick puppy." she said and shook her head while I just stood there confused. How is it that a girl that I don't even know would pick up that I love Katniss before the girl of my dreams does? "This is going to ruin everything." she exclaimed.

"What are you talking about now?" I questioned.

"None of your business." she said coldly and walked up to the elevator, my guess to find Cato. I just walked back into the cafeteria to see a hopeful Katniss waiting there.

"What happened?" she asked when I got close enough.

"I told her." I said to her, looking down at my feet.

"And?" she asked, wanting me to continue. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her, and she hugged back.

"She didn't like it." I told her with a sigh that she mimicked.

"She'll have to understand sooner or later." she said pulling away after a few seconds. In silence, we walked back into the training room together and got back to the fire station, I needed to perfect how to build a good fire, and Katniss needed a distraction.

~Clove~

I stormed away from Peeta to the elevator so I could go find Cato and bring him back to the training room to practice. Plus I know that its a way for him to relieve anger and stress. When I got into the elevator I saw a big dent in the wall, I wonder who did that. After the short trip to the second level I found Cato sitting in his room with his head in his hands and finger threaded in his hair, gripping it tightly.

"We need to talk." I told him closing the door.

"About what?" he snapped.

"Peeta."

"We can't kill him, I promised Katniss that we wouldn't. I'm not going to break it. Not now." he said finally looking up at me.

"Well I know that Haymitch said that she can't talk to us."

"So?"

"So I talked to Peeta instead." he perked up as I said this like I thought he would. I shut the door to his room and leaned against it, with my hands behind my back. "Peeta loves Katniss." I said softly.

"Yeah I know, they're best friends." he said confused but I shook my head.

"No not as best friends. I mean he _really loves her_." I told him and his face morphed from one of confusion to one of anger.

"Shit." he hissed as he got up to pace. He ran his hands through his hair repeatedly as he paced.

"Cato please calm down." I pleaded to him.

"How can I calm down?" he shouted. "She'll never pick me over him. One of us is going to die and she is probably going to join him in the Games because she trusts him more than she does me. It won't matter if I tell her how I feel about her, it won't be enough. She'll never feel the same way back either because she is so close to him. The fact that I can't talk to her right now is just killing me inside." he shouted, eventually his voice sounding desperate.

"I've never seen you care this much about somebody who isn't family." I observed.

"We all do crazy things when it comes to love." he said absentmindedly.

"I'm sorry for what?" I asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. He shook his head at me and walked out the door.

"You heard me." he grunted as he passed me.

"Yeah I just wanted to hear you say it again." I said following him out of the apartment and laughed when he stuck up his middle finger at me. When he got back down to the training center we saw Katniss working with Rue and Peeta at the knot tying station. I heard Cato sigh and looked at him to see him staring at her longingly. "Come on, go swing some swords and imagine the dummies are Peeta." I told him trying to push him towards his favorite station.

"More like Haymitch, it's his rule." he grunted with an instant glare at the floor before stalking off and grabbing a heavy sword to swing around.

~Cato~

After dismembering a dummy I looked over to see Katniss watching me, she looked almost frightened. No, that was the last thing I wanted to do, I didn't want to scare her, I wanted her to trust me. I give her a look that tells her that she shouldn't be afraid but it didn't work, she shook her head and turned back to Lover Boy. It fueled my fire, but I didn't take it out on a dummy, instead I just gripped the sword tighter. If I want her to trust me, I have to throw less temper tantrums. I looked back at her and saw that she kept glancing at me every now and then. That made me feel a little better, that she wasn't completely scared of me. I wish I could just talk to her and tell her that she has nothing to be afraid of, that I'm just upset about her Mentor's rules. But I can't, because all she'll do is just look at me. Clove stood a few feet away from me and I gestured for her to come over to me.

"What do I do? She's becoming afraid of me and I don't want that. I can't talk to her and tell her not to be afraid until the Games start and by then it'll be too late because of the Bloodbath." I told her quietly so nobody heard and she just gave me a look of surprise.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this lost about a girl before Cato." she said to me.

"I've never felt this way about a girl before." I replied and she shifted her weight.

"Well I don't really know what to say. Try talking to Brutus about this. See what he has to say."

~Caeser~

"Well well well, what do we have here Claudius?" I asked him in an intrigued voice.

"Well it seems that we have a bit of a romance here between Katniss Everdeen and Cato Hart from District 12 and 2." he said as the faces of the two Tributes popped up on the screen behind us.

"Some people would argue against us but these two seem to be sharing some interesting looks, glances and stares. Don't you think?" I asked him and he chuckled.

"Yes I do. But it's hard to tell whether they have some hidden plan or that these looks are indeed a romance."

"Oh no, I've seen looks like these before. This seems to be more than what's going on in the Games this year. These Hunger Games looks like they are going to be very interesting." I said with a tone that told I was very interested. Claudius and I kept watching the Tributes train and Cato was currently talk to his District Partner and they seemed to be in a heated discussion.

"I wonder what the District Two Tributes are talking about. Hmm." I said curiously.

"Perhaps its not a what, but a who?" Claudius teased.

"Oh I wish we could find out, but microphones in the Training Center is against the rules." I said chuckling. I can't wait to see what these Games bring this year.

~Cato~

Once training was over I did just as Clove said. I went to find Brutus and talk to him about what I should do. I found him sitting in the living room right as I walked into the apartment, he was sitting, watching something on the television drink some sort of Capitol drink.

"Brutus I need to ask you a question."

"What going on?" he asked me, not looking away from the television. I walked and stood in front of him to block his view.

"This is serious." I said and he sighed, turned off the TV and looked at me expectantly. "I got mad during training and I took it out on a dummy. Katniss saw and now she's scared of me." I admitted and he snorted.

"And you don't know what to do because you can't talk to her right?" he asked and I nodded my head yes. "Well seems like you're in a pickle." he said jokingly.

"Will you help me?"

"There is nothing really I can do. I can't tell a Mentor how to mentor his Tribute." he said honestly.

"But this it Spitfire we're talking about. It's Katniss. There has to be something we can do so she won't be scared of me." I said to him almost desperately. He sat there and rested his chin in his hand, thinking. After a few moments he snapped his fingers as a light bulb went off above his head.

"The interview." he said simply.

"What?"

"Tell her in the interview. That you care about her and will do anything to protect her. When she hears that you wouldn't do anything to hurt her, she won't be so scared. She may even trust you a little." he said and it made sense, for someone to profess something like that on national television would be big, and she'd have to trust me.

"Okay I'll do it, but I still need your help with it."

"Like what? I thought I did help."  
"I don't know what to say."

"The Capitol already thinks that there is something between you two with the way you keep glancing at each other during training. Caeser will likely ask about it, or if there is a girl that you like back home, just do what comes natural." he explained before getting up and walking into a different room. I walked over and stood on the balcony, looking high up above me to see if I could see Katniss on hers. But I couldn't, there were too many other balconies in the way. Heaving a heavy sigh I walked back into my room and laid down until it was time for dinner. After some time, where I fell asleep, I was woken up by Brutus to come and eat dinner. I was silent the entire time. Just trying to think of what I could say in the interview that would make Katniss trust me more and possibly pick me over Lover Boy. I was the first one finished eating, never paying attention to what I was putting in my mouth. Everybody looked at me in surprise when I got up from the table and walked back to my room. But I ignored their stares, all that was on my mind was Katniss.

~Katniss~

The third day of training was yesterday, and it went by in a breeze. So that means that today is the day that we go through evaluations for a training score. While I waited I could feel Cato watching me. District One went in and came out with smiles on their faces. When they called Clove in for her evaluation she glanced at me and gave me a slight nod of good luck in my, I returned it back to her. A few minutes later, when she was dismissed she came out with a big sigh and a satisfied smile on hr face. It was small, but it was there. Cato walked in and turned back to give me another look of good luck, it was longer than Clove's, but people think there is something romantic between us, that only helped it. When he came out he seemed angry yet satisfied, like he took his anger out on the evaluation. Which is probably what he did. It took them a lot longer for them to clean up the training room for the next Tribute. He must have chopped up all of the dummies in the room. Eventually, when the waiting room was empty except for Peeta and I, they called my name over the intercom.

"_Katniss Everdeen"_ the voice said. Apprehensively, I stood up and walked to the door.

"Hey Katniss?" a voice called behind me. I turned and looked at Peeta expectantly. "Shoot straight." he encouraged and I smiled a thank you. I turned back around and walked into the room to find all of the Gamemakers either waiting for me or talking amongst themselves.

"Katniss Everdeen. District Twelve." I called to try and get their attention. I received a few more gazes as I walked over and picked up a bow, weighing it in my hand before strategically picking the perfect arrow to shoot. I notched it, aimed at a target twenty feet away and shot. I missed. I missed the center and hit the next ring out. As I stood there in shock the Gamemakers chuckled and turned away from me, and it annoyed me. I took another arrow and shot a target fifty feet away. Bulls-eye. They didn't notice, so I shot another arrow at a target one hundred feet away. Again, they didn't notice. So, me being as livid as I was, I took one last arrow and shot it at the apple in the pig's mouth that they were fawning over. When it was pinned against the wall, everybody turned to me in shock. They didn't look mad or upset, they just looked surprised.

"Thank you for your consideration." I said, bowing, setting the bow back on the rack, and walking out of the room without being dismissed.

"You did what!?" Effie shrieked just before it was time to watch the training scores get revealed.

"I'm sorry I just got mad." I said.

"It's no big deal, they just want a good show." Cinna defended.

"How about it's just bad manners Cinna. How 'bout that?" she scolded as Haymitch walked into the room. "Well it's about time you got here, we have a major situation." she said and he just gave me the thumbs up.

"Great job Sweetheart." he said with a smile and I just smiled back. He went on about how what I did was genius.

"Haymitch this is serious! They could take it out on all of us!" she shrieked again.

"And do what? Take it out on her?" he asked gesturing to me. "On him?" he asked again pointing to Peeta. "I think they already have. Loosen your corset, have a drink, just calm down." he said and she glared at him. Seconds later the training scores came on and they went through the Districts. Clove and Cato both got a 10, which is good for them. Hopefully, I will get better than I did at the Academy, or just as good. Rue got a seven, which was a surprise and Thresh got a ten, which is extremely well for him. Then they got to Peeta.

"Now for District Twelve. Peeta Mellark. A score of eight." Caeser said with a everybody congratulated him on a job well done. I knew Peeta would get a good score because he was strong, and he could paint himself into anything.

"Last but not least, Katniss Everdeen." Caeser started. "With a score of," he paused in surprise, oh no, its a low score, I'm as good as dead now after what I did. "Eleven." Everybody shouted in surprise and happiness. Peeta told me good job and I just nodded, in shock. I got the highest score in Hunger Games history, President Snow will be mad. I can't even imagine how the other tributes are reacting to this.


	5. Well Done Spitfire

~Cato~

I sat there in surprise. Katniss got a higher score than I did, than Clove as well. Clove and Enobaria nodded a the screen in approval while Brutus smiled.

"Well done Spitfire." he thought out loud.

"What was her score to get to the Academy?" I asked.

"She had an eight." he said glancing at me.

"And her score that made the Council want her to volunteer?" Clove asked.

"Exactly 9.43, round it off and its a 9. I would have given her a ten but it wasn't up to me." he explained.

"So how did she get an eleven?" I asked.

"That is something you should ask her." Enobaria said and I rolled my eyes.

"I can't talk to her remember? Haymitch ordered her to not have any contact with me or Clove at all." I said from the couch and rested my hand on my enclosed fist.

"Well all that's left is the interviews." Brutus said looking directly at me. I nodded my head and got a confused look from Clove.

"Why do I feel kept out of the loop?" she said with a confused glare.

"You'll find out eventually." I said before standing up and walking to my room. Brutus followed after me but I didn't stop him, I know he wants to talk to me about tomorrow. We walked into my room and he shut the door behind him quietly.

"Do you know what you're going to say tomorrow?" he asked and I shook my head.

"I have no idea." I replied and he shook his head in disappointment.

"You need to figure this out." he said almost angrily.

"Don't you think I know that? Do you know how hard it is to figure out the perfect thing to say to her so she'll understand how I feel about her and that she won't be afraid of me? It's nearly impossible." I told him and he tapped his finger against his chin. "What?"

"There is one person from the Capitol that she does trust completely." he thought out loud.

"Like who? She hates the Capitol, called me a Capitol lap dog enough times back at the Academy." I told him and he scoffed.

"Yes because they are all a bunch of color coated freaks. But there is one Capitol citizen that is almost completely normal." he said and there is only one person I can think of that seems normal. She is totally relaxed around him.

"What will Cinna be able to tell me?" I asked him annoyed.

"Surprised you actually know his name."

"I heard a designer say his name and the District he designed for at the Tribute Parade. Now what can he tell me?"

"Katniss trusts him, he will know why. Ask him a few questions on what he did that allowed her to trust him completely."

"Worth a shot." I agreed with a shrug of my shoulder.

"Good I'll send an Avox up with a message telling Cinna to come down as soon as he can." he said walking out of the room before I could say another word. A few minutes later there was a soft knock on my door and when I opened it, it revealed Cinna.

"Brutus said you needed me? And not for a wardrobe reason I assume." he says with a knowing look.

"You assume correctly." I said as I moved out of the way to let him in.

"So what do you need to know about Katniss?" he said clasping his hands behind his back.

"How is it that she trusts you so quickly?"

"When we met, I didn't treat her like she was going to die. I told her that I was impressed for what she did for her sister, but I was sorry for the fact that her love for Prim put her in this life and death situation." he explained as I stood there taking in his words. "She trusts me also because I don't dress in ridiculous clothes like the rest of the people in the Capitol do. I won't conform. Her and I share a hatred for the Capitol." he said with a grimace on his face.

"But I don't hate the Capitol. Sure I don't agree with some of the things they do but-"  
"Like what?" he questioned.

"Like how the people in lower Districts are so poor. Why waste the money they have on something they don't need? Why not just give it to the more poor Districts?" I said to him and he tapped his finger to his chin.

"Are you saying that just because she is from the lowest District of them all?" he questioned.

"No! I thought that when I saw the District during the Victory Tour last year. Clove and I met a boy in the woods, he was hunting for food." I said and Cinna perked up at this.

"What was his name?"

"Gale I think. Why?"

"No reason. What have you done to try to prove to Katniss that she can trust you?"

"Well she and I made a deal that I won't kill her, Peeta, or Rue if she does not try to kill me or Clove. But other than that, nothing because Haymitch forbid her from talking to me. So there isn't anything I can do." I said sitting on the bed and running my hands through my hair.

"Is there anything you could give her that could make her trust you?" he asked and I thought for a second. I could write her a letter that he could give to her.

"If I write her a note, would you give it to her without Haymitch knowing?" I asked him and he nodded. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the bed side table and began to write. After a few minutes of putting everything I wanted to say and handed it to him. He looked it over and nodded in approval.

"Is there anything else?" he asked and I shook my head. "Good luck in the interviews tomorrow, and in the Games." he said before walking out of the room. After a few minutes I decided to change into my pajamas which is just pants because I like to sleep shirtless. I didn't bother taking a shower because I know they will make me take one tomorrow before my interview. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it, I would be letting everybody in the nation know about how I feel for Katniss. And who knows if she feels the same way. I'll just have to wait and see.

~Katniss~

I was just laying on my bed, thinking about my score. A number just put a giant target on my back. I will be at the top of everybody's list to kill, except Clove, Cato, Peeta, and Rue, they won't kill me. But everybody else might. I wouldn't put it past them. I was also thinking about Cato. What is he doing? And what does he think about being beaten in the scores. He got a 10 and I got an 11. Any Career would be upset, but I don't think Cato and Clove would be surprised. I've trained just like they have and they know that. I just hope they don't hate me for beating them. There was a soft knock on my door and when I told whoever it was they could come in, Cinna was presented.

"Hey." he said with a soft smile and I returned it.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your own suite making my dress?" I asked, lifting myself up to look at him.

"Your dress was finished yesterday." he said with a happy smile on his face. I noticed him holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to it. He looked down at it and held it out to me.

"For you." he said. I took it from him and he walked out the door. Confused, I opened the folded paper and read what it said to myself.

_Katniss,_

_ I never said how sorry I was for how I treated you in the Academy, it was unfair to you when I didn't know a thing about you. And I'm sorry that your love for your sister is costing you a chance at losing your life. That isn't fair either. There was so much I wanted to do. I wanted to win the games, and come find you. Even though you might have hated me or not liked me very well. There was so much I had planned, if everything went right. If it went wrong, I would try to make things right between us. There are things that I need to tell you and explain to you, and it will happen tomorrow during the interviews. It will be at the wrong time but it's the best I can do. I don't know what will happen during the Games, but I will honor the promise I made to you. If you would have me, I would ally with you and try my best to get you out so you could go back to your sister. Yes I have a family to go back to and Clove does too, but we both know and agree that you are the one who deserves to go home. Clove is still going to ally with the other Careers no matter what, but if you choose and want I could ally with you and make your chances at going home stronger. People seem to think that there is something between us. If we ally and give them what they want, it could give us, you, sponsors. But it's totally up to you. _

_ I just wanted to say that I was sorry for all that has happened to you and there is so much I want to tell you. Please try to not act surprised when all is revealed tomorrow because I will explain after the interviews, if you would meet me on the roof after the interviews once everybody has gone to bed. Haymitch may have told you not to talk to me until the Games start, but maybe he could make an exception just this once._

_Cato_

I read that letter over and over, I could almost recite it. What could he want to tell me? What needs to be explained? People think that there is something between us? How if we haven't talked to each other in days. Could it be the way he stares at me? How he watches me in training even though people are watching him? I do my fair share of watching, but my face is always impassive, or at least I think it is. But I could be wrong. Is this why Haymitch didn't want us talking, so try and get people think that there is something. With all of these thoughts running through my head, I fell asleep, trying to figure out what all is happening. That night I had a dream, one where Haymitch had to wake me up from.

_I was in a forest, at first I thought it was the woods back home, but I figured out quickly that it wasn't. I was in cargo pants and a thin jacket that seemed to keep me very warm. I had a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on my back, all Capitol made. I was in the Arena and I wasn't alone. There was crunch to my left and I jumped out of the way before whatever or whoever it was lunged at me. I saw blonde hair, blue eyes, and a muscular figure. At first glance I thought it was Cato with a sword, but it wasn't. It was Peeta with a ax and a crazed look in his eyes._

"_You chose him over me!" he said as he swung the ax in my direction. I reached for an arrow but it seemed to have disappeared. I was defenseless, everything I learned at the Academy vanished from my head. All I could do was try to get away._

"_What?" I shouted back._

"_You picked him! Over your best friend. He hardly knows you yet you picked him!" he said swinging his ax again. Then another blonde male appeared and tackled him to the ground. They fought, sword against ax. It was Cato._

"_Don't you dare touch her!" he shouted at Peeta, throwing a punch to his jaw. _

"_No! Stop it! No!" I shouted at them._

"_You don't know her like I do!"_

"_I understand her better than you ever could. I LOVE HER!" Cato shouted back as they continued to fight. A spear was thrown and landed in Peeta's back. It wasn't Cato, or Clove because she uses knives. I don't know who threw it. As Cato stood there confused about what just happened, how Peeta died and not by his hands, a third blonde tribute stepped into my few, but this one was female, Glimmer._

"_He chose you, and not me." she said holding up her knife high in the air, ready to plunge into my heart. She thrust her hand down and the knife pierced my skin, into my heart. As my world was fading Cato screamed my name._

"_Katniss! Katniss!"_

"Katniss!" a voice shouted, but it wasn't Cato. I opened my eyes and saw Haymitch. I sat up in my bed and rubbed my hand across my forehead, sweat drenching my hand. "Are you okay? You were shouting." he said and I nodded.

"Just a nightmare." I told him and he sighed.

"About the Games?" he asked and I nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head in response. "Come on, it's almost time to get ready for the interviews anyway." he said standing up and I followed in pursuit.

"How much time do I have?" I asked him.

"About an hour or so." he said and I nodded. I sat down on the couch and waited for Peeta to wake up so we could eat breakfast. A few minutes later, he did. He tried to give me a hug but I backed away. When he gave me a confused look Haymitch stepped in for me.

"Nightmare." he said and Peeta nodded. I will not tell him that he was trying to kill me in it. He would think that I don't trust him, but I do trust him. After we all were finished eating, I went with Effie to allow her to teach me on how to sit properly and walk in four in heels. She was presently surprised when I could.

"How can you walk in them so well?" she asked astonished.

"I had to wear heels to some fancy dinners at the Academy." I told her and she nodded with a smile.

"Well then lets add a few inches. I don't think six inches will be necessary but you never know." I changed into the new shoes and I had a little bit of trouble but eventually go the hang of it. Sooner or later it was time to switch. I sat with Haymitch for hours trying to figure out how I should portray myself on stage.

"I give up, your personality hasn't changed at all in the past two years."

"Sorry if I became hostile." I said sarcastically. He shook his head and groaned.

"Where is Cinna with your dress?" Haymitch complained right as Cinna walked through the door carrying a garment bag.

"Somebody call for me?" he joked with a smile and Haymitch sighed in relief.

"Finally. Get her ready." he said walking out. Once he was out the door the rest of my prep team scurried through the door. As I sat in a chair in the bathroom they plucked, shaved, and washed me all over again just they did the first time, but it didn't hurt as much. Cinna then helped me into my dress. With how low the back of the dress is, you can see my scars from being whipped. I asked my prep team not to cover them. I want people to see that I can be tough.

"Great now twirl for me." he said excitedly. I twirled and was engulfed in flames once again.

"I don't know about this Cinna." I said nervously.

"You'll be fine, don't you know how beautiful you look?" he asked but I shook my head.

"I don't mean that. I don't know how to get people to like me. How do you make people like you?" I asked annoyed.

"Well you made me like you." he pointed out standing up.

"That's different I wasn't trying." I said smoothing out my dress as I stepped closer to him.

"Then when you're up there, find me in the crowd and pretend like you're talking to me. Okay?" he offered with a friendly smile that I returned and nodded.

"Okay."

"Good now let's get you out there." he said as we walked out into the living room and saw Haymitch, Peeta, and Effie standing there waiting.

"Wow you look great Katniss." Peeta said as he gave me a hug.

"Thanks you do too." I said back with a smile. It's times like this where I forget that Peeta and I are in the Hunger Games and we can just act like best friends again.

"Where is that personality all the time?" Haymitch complained as we got in the elevator.

"I can't be best friends with everybody Haymitch." I snapped at him. A few minutes of silence later we arrive on the main floor and walked backstage. Peeta and I separate from the three and stand among the rest of the Tributes waiting for the interviews to start. I spot Clove and Cato standing a few feet away. He is wearing a dark gray suit with a metallic shine to it, with a black shirt underneath and shoes to match it. Cato's back is to me and he is talking to Clove who was wearing a floor length orange gown with ribbons and ruffles, well beyond her usual style. She spotted me watching them beyond Cato and pointed to me. He turned around and his ice blue eyes go wide as he sees me in my dress and my hair up in a braided bun. When he picked his jaw up off the floor he gave me a soft smile and a nod. I nodded back and turned back to Peeta.

"Are you okay?" Peeta asked me concerned.

"I don't know if I can do this." I said to him.

"You'll be okay. We can get through this." he said taking my hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

"But there are so many people I care about in the Games."

"Hey I know. Prim should have never gotten Reaped, then you wouldn't be here. None of us should be here. Not you, me, Rue, Clove, or even Cato." he said as Caeser came out on stage to start the show.

I stood there in line, waiting my turn and Peeta's hand clasped in my own as I waited. Glimmer walked out on stage in the pale pink dress that was almost skin toned, and very revealing. It's easy to see that sexual appeal was her angle. As she talked she kept flicking her hair and winking at the crowd, earning wolf howls and whistles from the crowd. As she skipped off stage Marvel readjusted his jacket as he waited for his name to be called. Throughout his interview he portray himself a bit like an idiot but ready for the Games to start. Eventually Clove was called and she acted sweet yet sarcastic at the same time during her interview. She did well, letting a few hints drop about her talents yet still remaining a mystery. Then Cato is called up, he isn't acting cocky and tough like I though he would, instead he used his charm.

"So Cato, how are you liking the Capitol so far?"

"It's great, you know? A lot like home but still really different." he replied with a smile, showing off his perfect white teeth.

"So is there anybody back home you want to win these Games for?"

"Well besides my family, there is somebody I'd like to win the Games for." Cato hinted.

"Ah, a lucky lady perhaps?" Caeser teased and I let go of Peeta's hand, too curious to hold it without squeezing it too hard.

"You could say that." Cato replied seriously, but still had a small smile on his face.

"Can you tell us her name?" Caeser begged.

"Let's just say that she's kindled a _flame_ in my heart." he said, placing a big hand over his heart. He looked into the camera but his eyes seemed to be staring into my soul. Like he's talking to me, but he is talking to me.

"A flame huh? How long have you known her?"

"It feels like its been a couple years, like maybe two years. But really I've only know her for a few days." he explained and he isn't lying. He's known who I am for two years, but he hasn't really known me until a few days ago. He likes me, maybe even loves me. I'm surprised, confused a little, but strangely happy. I don't know why I feel happy, we're competing to the death. Only one of us can survive. But this is Cato. The boy who kissed me, who I danced with at the Feasts, he woke me up from a horrific nightmare during the Victory Tour, he worried about me when I got back for the Tour with my injuries and when I was "sick". Deep down he cared about me, but I didn't see it.

"Well I wish you the best of luck with you and your flame. I know this won't be easy for either of you." Caeser said as the buzzer went, telling us that his time was up. He walked off stage and past everybody in line to make his way to the Tribute lounge where the Tributes watch the rest of the interviews and wait for them to finish. As Cato passed me his hand brushed against mine. One word was whispered as he passed me by.

"Sorry." he said before walking away completely. The rest of the interviews continued, but I wasn't really paying attention, I was too busy thinking about what had just happened. Cato had told everybody that he liked me. Well not me specifically but the "flame" comment implied that it was me. I almost didn't know that it was close to my turn until Peeta tapped my shoulder and lightly pushed me towards the stage as Caeser called me name. I had to calm down and focus. I walked out with a smile on my face as Caeser clasped my hand.

"My my Katniss, that was some entrance you made at the Tribute parade. Now those flames, were they real?" he asked and I smirked.

"Why yes they were," I started and searched for Cinna in the crowd, he twirled his finger in a circle telling me to spin for everybody. "in fact I am wearing them again tonight. Would you like to see?" I asked him and he gestured for me to show them. I stood up and spun in circles, letting the flames eat me up as the crowd cheered and clapped for me. Soon I became dizzy and had to sit down, luckily Caeser was there to steady me.

"Wow, that was something, that was something. Thank you for that. So Katniss, what do you think of that confession earlier from Cato?" he asked and I could feel the cameras zoom in on my face. If Cato was out here, they would get a close up on him too, but they are stuck with me.

"It was a bit surprising but there is more to a person than what meets the eye." I said simply.

"Do you return his feelings?" he said and I thought for a bit. Did I return what he felt? I could, he didn't quit and still tried when I never told him anything. He never quit on me. "Katniss?" he asked again, I must've been thinking for too long.

"I think I might have a place in my heart for a Hart." I said finally, Caeser smiled at me, and the crowd erupted with cheers.

"Now one last thing before we finish. I want to talk about your sister Prim." he said once the crowd had calmed down, holding my hand comfortingly. "Did she come say goodbye to you after you volunteered for her?"

"Yes, she did." I said, going from feeling comfortable to very small and my voice grew shaky, trying not to cry.

"She did, and what did she say, if you don't mind telling us."

"She told me to try to win. And I promised that I would try to win for her."

"And try you will." he said, kissing my hand as the buzzer went. I walked off the stage to Haymitch and Effie who stood waiting for me.

"Nice job Sweetheart." Haymitch said to me with a sympathetic smile.

"You did great." Effie said.

"Thanks." I said to them with not much enthusiasm.

"Are you okay?" Haymitch asked sounding concerned.

"I'm still trying to process it all." I replied.

"Trying to figure out if what Cato did was an act or real?" he asked and I looked at him.

"I think it was genuine. Too many things have happened between us for it to be fake all of the sudden." I told him. He nodded and sighed before all of us turned to the television that was on the wall in the hallway. They didn't have me go to the lounge, because once Peeta was done we could just go upstairs, we didn't have to wait very long.


	6. I Love You LaLa

~Cato~

As I sat in the lounge and watched the interviews, I couldn't hide my happiness at what Katniss had said, there is a chance for me. Now all I need to do is wait for her to walk through the doors of the lounge, but she hasn't yet. Peeta has already taken the stage. Did she get intercepted by Haymitch and her Escort? Most likely. Why make her come and wait here when they just had to wait for her partner? But I wanted to see her, so badly. Hopefully if she got my note, which I bet she did, I'll see her on the roof tonight.

"Cato." Clove said, getting my attention.

"What?"

"You might want to pay attention to this." she said pointing to the television.

"So Peeta, is there a special girl back home?" Caeser asked him and he chuckled.

"No. No not really." he replied.

"I don't believe it." Caeser said then looked at the crowd. "Look at that face folks." he said and laughed. "Now Peeta, tell me." he practically ordered.

"Well there is this one girl that I've had a crush on forever. And we've been friends for at least that long." he explained.

"Well I'll tell you what, you go out there, and you win this for her. And when you get home she'll have to go out with you." Caeser advised.

"Thanks but I don't think winning will help me in my case." he said solemnly.

"Why not?" Caeser asked confused.

"Because...because she came here with me." Peeta said and there was a large gasp from the crowd. What the hell? What is he trying to do? Ruin everything? I glared at the television and Clove was doing the same thing.

"Well that's bad luck."

"Yeah, yeah it is." Peeta said sadly, he seemed genuine. The buzzer went off and Peeta walked off quickly.

"Well it seems like we have a bit of a love triangle this year don't we folks. Have a good night and tune in tomorrow for the beginning of this years Hunger Games." he said closing the show. After it shut off I sat there, still glaring at the black screen, until I felt a hand on my shoulder, at first I thought it was Katniss but these fingers were too pale and the nails were manicured.

"Oh let her have that scum like herself. They don't need a love triangle Cato, when you can have me instead." Glimmer said huskily in my ear. I shoved her off of me and stood up, glaring at her.

"But I don't want you." I said with more venom than I intended. I stalked out the door to the elevator and waited for it to come. I didn't even wait for anybody else, I just wanted to get up to the roof.

~Katniss~

"What the hell was that?" I shouted as soon as I got back to the penthouse, shoving Peeta into the wall. "You be my best friend and now you say you have a crush on me? As if this wasn't complicated enough!"

"I'm sorry, I just thought that-" he started but I stopped him.

"No you didn't think, you could've told me a hell of a long time ago. But no, you wait until we're about to die."

"Katniss!" Haymitch shouted.

"What?" I snapped back.

"Go to your room and calm down. He just made this all more interesting. The sponsors will go crazy to support you and Cato, or you and Peeta. Both of them may have just saved your damn life. Now go to your room and cool off." I did what he said with one last glare at all of them and stormed to my room. I shoved my dress off, took all of the pins out of my hair, and stepped into the shower to get all of this glitter and make-up off of me. After an hour of scrubbing and making my skin raw, I stepped out and let the Capitol bathroom and its machines dry me off before I walked back into my room with a towel around me and getting dressed in some comfortable. At around one in the morning, everybody had gone to bed and was sound asleep which allowed me to go up to the roof to meet Cato. He and I needed to talk after all that had happened during the interview. When I got up there I saw him standing by the edge. He didn't even hear me come up. Quietly I walked up to where I was a foot from behind him before I spoke.

"Don't get too close. The force field will blow you away." I said and he spun around to face me. Once he saw it was me he swept me up into a hug.

"I'm so sorry for everything." he whispered in my ear. I hugged him back around the neck and pulled away shortly after.

"It's okay."

"No it's not. I was going to win this, and come find you. To tell you everything about how I felt and I was going to keep you safe the best that I could. I don't care that you are from Twelve. I honestly don't. One of us is going to die, maybe even both of us. If you go, I don't know what I will do." he confessed to me.

"I've lost people I really care about in my life. If I win I lose three close friends. I don't know what I would do. But I can't lose anybody else." I said and he pulled me close again. "I am sorry for what Peeta said. I honestly had no idea." I told him and he chuckled, the vibrations radiating through him to me.

"Don't worry, I still won't kill him. I can't kill you're best friend." he said. We pulled away from each other and sat down on a bench, looking out over the people in the Capitol. "You know, you can still join the Careers." he said.

"And have Glimmer waiting for me to fall asleep to kill me? Sorry but no." I said and he looked at me seriously.

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you." he said taking my hand and holding it firmly.

"I know. But you can keep me safe if you let me go on my own." I told him.

"How?"

"You can kill anybody else you find, and trust me that I can defend myself."

"Fine, I don't like it but fine. And you can come to us whenever you need. But is there anything you need?" he asked me and I thought for a minute.

"Just get me a bow." I told him.

"Okay." he said without any questions. "And if you want I can break away and ally with you and not the Careers." he offered and I gave him a look. "Right never mind. But I still don't like it." he said and I just chuckled.

"I wonder what our families are thinking." I thought out loud.

"What do you mean?"

"Well its uncommon for there to be a love story in the Hunger Games to begin with. But I would think it's frowned upon for somebody from District 2 to have any sort of relationship with somebody from my District." I said in all seriousness.

"I don't care what all of my District thinks. I only care about what my family thinks." he said looking out over the Capitol before turning to me. "And I believe, from what I remember, my family loves you." he said flashing me a smile. I laughed and nudged him in his ribs with my elbow. He laughed along with me. "What about your family?"

"Well I don't know about my mom, she kinda went catatonic on my sister and I but she is doing a lot better. My sister might be a little surprised but she sees the good in everything. As for my friends, I don't know. They are a little over protective when it comes to me." I said vaguely.

"How do you mean?"

"Peeta has been my friend since I was a kid, he saved my life. But then there's Gale whose like my brother I've known him since I was maybe nine years old, and Madge is my like my older sister. They are all protective of me ever since they found out Peeta saved my life."

"How did he save your life?" he asked curiously.

"Aw is Cato jealous?" I teased.

"What? No, I'm just curious." he supplied and I just gave him a smirk.

"When I was little, after my dad died, I was trying to sell some of our old baby clothes for food or money. But I couldn't, nobody wanted them. Peeta saw me out in the rain, starving and burned some bread to give to me, he got in trouble with his mom but he didn't care. He helped me anyway. Two loaves of bread was food for a weak. Enough for me to try to get more." I said trying not to tell him about the hunting.

"How could you get more food if it was so hard the first time?" he asked. I was quiet for a while, still nervous, I would have to tell him about the hunting, and how I got the scars. "Katniss?"

"The reason why I wanted you to get me a bow is because back home I hunt for food." I said looking at my hands in my lap.

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Yeah, going beyond the fence, into the woods and hunting for food to stay alive is illegal. That's why I got whipped." I said, I looked over and saw his hand clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. "Cato calm down."

"I want to hurt the one who whipped you."

"It was a new Peacekeeper, he hadn't experienced the starvation yet."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"I sell to Peacekeepers and that's why I haven't been punished before." I told him. He relaxed a little bit but still his hand was clenched. I took it in mine and tried to open it. When I got it open it closed again, but around my own.

"I won't let anybody touch you in the Games. I won't let anybody hurt you." he said. I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. His finger came up and played with the ends of my hair that has fallen into its natural waves on my shoulders."I like you hair this way." he said absentmindedly.

"We should probably get to bed. We need our strength for tomorrow." I told him. He nodded and stood up, pulling me with him. As we walked to the door he had his arm around me, holding me to him. But I wasn't complaining, it felt good, comfortable. When we got to the door, he gave me one last hug and kissed my head. In silence I walked into my bedroom thinking about tomorrow. What am I going to do, what is my plan of action? I won't join the Careers, not with Glimmer coming after me. I laid in my bed and closed my eyes. It only seemed like a few minutes before Effie came knocking on my door.

"Wake up! Its a big big big day!" she said before I heard her heels click away. I looked out the window and saw that it was bright outside. So I had to have gotten some sleep last night. I took a shower and changed into my arena outfit that was sitting on my bed. I put it on and braided my hair into its usual side braid. I walked into the dining room and sat down at the table, eating whatever food I allowed myself to stomach with my nerves. When it was time to go we were escorted to the hovercraft that would take up to the arena. Haymitch told me not to go to the Cornucopia, because it would be the Bloodbath, just turn and run away.

"Give me your arm." a Peacekeeper asked every Tribute, sticking a needle in and injecting us with some.

"What is that?" I asked when she got to me.

"Your tracker." she said as she injected my arm. When she walked away I looked around me at the scared faces. Clove was sitting to my left while Cato was across from me and down to the right. He kept glancing at me. I would catch his glances and he'd give a me look of encouragement. Clove and I kept looking at each other too, I wanted to reach out and grasp her hand. We were nervous because one of us was going to die, and we'd become close these past two years. The hovercraft landed and we all went to our own prep room to meet with our stylists one last time. I saw Cinna and I immediately hugged him. He grabbed a jacket off its hanger and helped me put it on.

"I'm not allowed to bet. But if I could I'd bet on you." he said before opening up a hidden collar in my jacket and revealing my Mockingjay Pin. I had forgotten about it, but I was happy to have it now.

"Thank you." I said with a shaky voice.

"Fifteen seconds." a robotic voice came over the intercom. I hesitantly took a few steps over and stepped into the clear glass tube. It immediately shut and I turned to Cinna in surprise. He gave me one last nod before I raised up onto a pedestal. Everybody was in a circle around the Cornucopia. It was was forest, the Arena was a forest. I could win this, it was _my_ element. I spotted Cato a few people away from me and he looked at me with a knowing look. He knows I can win this because its a forest. I nodded to him with a tiny smile before he turned at glared at the middle of the clearing with determination in his eyes.

The sixty seconds were up, and the gong rang. Everybody sprinted towards the Cornucopia except for me, Peeta who as ten Tributes away, and a few others who ran towards the woods. I hesitated and looked around the outskirts for a bag that I could grab. Then I saw it, a bright neon orange bag near the edge of the woods. So I took off towards it. Right as I got there another boy grabbed it. A knife was soon embedded in his skull and I looked to see where it came from and I saw Clove in the follow through position as she just threw it. She nodded and at and I gestured her to throw another, she did and I raised my bag to catch it. Then I ran for it, for the cover of the woods. Once I was concealed I kept running, to make sure that I was far enough away from the Cornucopia before I stopped to inspect what I had in my bag. I sat down, breathing heavily, and opened the pack to find an empty water bottle, a book of matches, a thin sleeping bag, and some chain links. Great, just what I need to get a good start in the Hunger Games. Suddenly there was a large boom, a cannon to be exact. They started going off once they had an official count of who had died in the Bloodbath. Twelve of us gone already. That's half of us dead. Twelve more Tributes to go.

With that on my mind I stood up and started walking. To find a source of water, and to set up some snares to possibly get some food. I found a small stream and hastily filled my water bottle and purified it before taking small sips of it. I don't know when I'll find some more water again so I have to spare it. Then as I checked the snares I found a rabbit caught in one. I skinned it and cooked it over a small fire while keeping an eye on my surroundings, there was still a lot of Tributes out there, and if I'm right, the Careers will be on the hunt soon, if they aren't already.

~Cato~

I looked through the dead Tributes at the Cornucopia three times. Just to make sure that none of them were Katniss, Lover Boy, or Rue. I was okay with calling Peeta by the name of Lover Boy, ever since he has tried getting in the way of taking Katniss from me. Luckily none of them were the three I was looking for, thankfully. The Careers thus far are Clove, Glimmer, Marvel, the boy from Three, Gadge, and then me.

"Marvel sort through weapons."

"Okay." he called back before doing what I asked.

"What do you want me to do Cato?" Glimmer asked, trying to seduce me.

"Sort the medical supplies." I grunted.

"But I don't know anything about medical stuff." she pouted, stomping her foot like a spoiled child.

"Then take Clove with you." I said annoyed. "Gadge, sort out the food." I ordered.

"Cato!" Clove shouted from the edge of the clearing. I turned and saw her standing with Lover Boy? I walked over there with my sword in hand, I won't kill him, but we are so close to the woods, he might not be working alone.

"What?" I snapped.

"He wants in." Clove said giving him a suspicious look.

"In the Careers?" I asked surprised. "Seriously?"

"Look I may not like either of you as much as Katniss does." he said which made Clove and I glance at each other. "But I would rather work with people who have the same goal as me."

"And what goal would that be?" I asked sheathing my sword and crossing my arms.

"To get Katniss home." he said with a serious look on his face. I stared at him, searching for something. Then I saw it in his eyes, he's genuine.

"Fine, do one thing to cross us and I'll-" I started.

"Yeah I know, kill me." He said as he started to walk past us but I put a hand to his chest to stop him.

"No, I won't kill you. I promised Katniss. I was just going to say that I'll kick you out of the Careers myself." I threatened before walking away and back to the Cornucopia. "Clove go help Glimmer, she's worthless." I said as she caught up to me and walked by my side.

"Then why is she with us?"

"Couldn't have one without the other." I said as I looked at Marvel.

"Don't tell me that Marvel likes her." she almost complained.

"No, we wanted Marvel, but his Mentor said that if we take him, we have to have Glimmer too. And I hate it." I said as I stalked off to take any supplies I can from the dead Tributes that they tried to take. After we were all done sorting through everything in the field I was ready to hunt. I wanted to make sure that Katniss was okay. As we walked Clove came and walked in the front beside me.

"I got her some supplies." she said. "And a weapon."

"How?" I asked as I had the bow and a quiver of arrows over my shoulder.

"She went for a backpack and some other Tribute went for it too. I killed him and threw her another knife, so she would at least have something." she explained and I nodded. We hunted through the woods, until it got dark. Then in the distance, I could see a light. Some stupid Tribute decided to light a fire. I immediately knew it wasn't Katniss, if she could hunt for her family for years, then she wouldn't make the mistake of setting a fire. We walked up to the fire.

"Well look at what we have here." I said and took out my sword as this young girl, probably fourteen years old begged for her life. I saw with her supplies that she had a small sword. Sadly, and I know Kat would never approve, I stuck her in her heart. We took her supplies and walked away. I took whatever food was in this girls pack and held onto it, so I could give it to Katniss.

"Um the cannon didn't go off." Glimmer pointed out annoyed.

"It's a mistake, I know where I stuck her." I remarked.

"Will you just shut up, I'll go check." Lover Boy piped up and I heard a gasp and it wasn't from us, Katniss must be around. I doubt she knows that Lover Boy joined us. Soon enough he came back after the cannon went off.

"Okay then let's go." Clove said.

"You guys head back to camp. I gotta do something." I told them, they all gave me a confused look. "Unless you'd all like to see me pee, you better get moving." I warned and they booked it out of there. Once I knew they were gone I looked around me for my girl. "Katniss?" I whispered. A leaf fell from above me and I looked up to see her nestled on a branch. She gestured for me to come up and I granted her wish and climbed up to the best of my abilities. "Hey." I said once I was on the same branch as her.

"Hey." she whispered back.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I asked her as my hand cupped her cheek and my eyes searched her over for any possible injuries. It was hard because it was dark, but the moon as able to provide enough light for me to see.

"I'm fine and I'm not hurt." she said and I sighed in relief. I took the bow and arrows off my shoulder and the food I grabbed and handed them to her.

"I believe these are for you." I said giving them to her with a smile.

"You got them!" she said happily.

"Had to wrestle them from Glimmer but yeah." I told her. "Um if you don't mind me asking, is this how you got your eleven?" I asked and she smirked.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask about that. I did but only because it was a very surprising session." she said and I gave her a look asking her to go on. She leaned in close and I met her half way so her lips were at my ear. "I kinda got mad and shot at the Gamemakers food. Pinned an apple to the wall." she said then pulled away, I gaped at her.

"You did what? You're lucky they didn't kill you!" I exclaimed a little too loudly.

"But they wouldn't because they couldn't replace me. You better go before the rest of the Careers think you have a bladder problem." she said teasingly.

"But I don't want to leave you." I said, sounding really soft. She leaned in again and kissed me on the cheek.

"Will that tide you over until next time?" she asked and I smirked, shaking my head as well.

"Not quite, but this will." I said and I leaned in and pressed my lips lightly to hers. She was surprised at first but after a moment she started to kiss back, which is good because the first time I kissed her years ago she never replied. But this time she did and it made me happy. She pulled away with a smile on her face.

"You know if you had just waited a little longer the first time you wouldn't have gotten so mad." she said mentioning the first time. I liked this Katniss, she was playful but I still liked the tough Katniss from training.

"What do you mean?"

"I was going to kiss back but you pulled away too soon." she said and I smiled.

"Well my bad." I teased snatching one more kiss from her.

"Will you get out of here before they come looking?" she said shoving me down the tree a little bit. I climbed down I looked up at her one last time. "Tell Clove I say hi." she said and I winked at her before walking away reluctantly. Eventually I made it back to the camp site and I saw them all crowded around a fire one of them had built.

"Cato it's about time you got back man." Marvel said.

"Yeah what took you so long?" Glimmer asked curiously.

"I told you I had to pee." I said sitting down between Marvel and Clove.

"Hey Cato can I talk to you man?" Marvel asked and I looked at him suspiciously before nodding, taking my sword with me.

"What going on?" I asked him, he seemed nervous but serious about something.

"Back home, a few years ago I got a girl pregnant, she had the baby but left her at my door. She's going to be four in a coupled of days. Her name is Pamela. I know that after seeing you volunteer there isn't a good chance of me making it out of here, but I sure as hell will try to get back to her. If I don't make it will you make sure she get's this?" he asked taking a necklace from his neck, it was a circular locket, inside it was a picture of the two of them on one side and on the other was some sort of writing, I took a closer look at it and it read,

_I love you LaLa_

_~Daddy_

"Why me?" I asked him, looking from the necklace to him.

"You have the best chance at getting out of here alive, after Katniss. I'm going to try to get out of here. Once this alliance is broken I won't hold back. But I already know that it's you or Katniss that is going to get out of here. Just make sure that Pamela gets this. I don't want it to come from somebody from the Capitol, but somebody whose been through this with me. " he said and I nodded.

"Sure thing man." I said shaking his hand, promising him. I tucked the necklace into my pocket and zipped it up so it wouldn't fall out. This present shouldn't come from me, it should come from him. But because of the situation we're in, he won't be able to give it to her. He shouldn't be here, none of us should be here.

"Thank you." he said with some relief evident as we walked back to the fire where everybody else sat talking about the Games.

"Everybody get some sleep, I'll take first watch." I said and everybody went and got in their tents. Clove hung back for a minute.

"Did you see her?" she whispered to me and I nodded. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah she's fine, she has her weapons and some food. I think she'll be okay." I said thinking about the kiss, our first real kiss after me telling her how I felt.

"What's with the smile?" Clove asked me curiously. "What did you guys hook up or something?" she added sarcastically.

"Well not to that extent." I hinted.

"You mean you kissed!?" she whispered surprised. "Like a real one?"

"Why are you so surprised? And what do you mean a real one?"

"Please, do you honestly think she didn't tell me about the first one? I called you out on it remember? And I'm surprised because I wanna know why you are here and not with her."

"She doesn't want my help, at least not yet." I said looking into the fire.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. She hasn't exactly told me why. She just said that she'd be okay and that I needed to trust her."

"And do you trust her?"

"Of course, otherwise I would be with her right now. Now go to bed, you need your strength." I said lightly pushing her away.

"You do too Cato. You aren't a superhero. Two hours and I take next watch." she said sympathetically before walking away to her own tent. During my watch I kept an eye on the woods. Nobody came, and nobody went. The air was too quiet. The Gamemakers must have something planned for tomorrow.


	7. You Have To Win

~Katniss~

It was early morning, the sun had just risen when it started. Things in the forest got too quiet, the birds stopped chirping, the leaves stopped rustling, but then there was a loud boom. Almost like a crash. I awoke with a start and looked around the tree I was tied into. A wall, a giant wall of fire was headed my way. I quickly got out of the tree with everything I had and ran for my life. Balls of fire were thrown in my direction as I dodged them the best that I could. Suddenly a huge tree had fallen, blocking my path and when I turned to find a new route, another fire ball was hurtling towards me. I jumped out of the way, landing on the ground. But it still brushed against my leg, burning me. The white hot pain was unbelievable. And I thought the whipping was bad.

But I couldn't think about that right now, I had to get out of here. I scurried around for my bow that had fallen out of my hand when I jumped and I found it. Sitting next to a branch alight with fire. I didn't have time to cover my hand with something, and it wouldn't have mattered either. I grabbed my bow and cried out when my hand seared with pain. With my bow and quiver over my shoulder, and the back pack on my back I ran like hell, soon I was just running in thick smoke. My coughing would tell anybody nearby that I was here, and it would make me an easy target. Soon I tripped and fell into a river, thank God it wasn't that strong, or I would be dead and gone by now. I came up out of the water for air and I sighed in relief, that is until I heard some shouting.

"Look there she is!" it was Glimmer and Marvel. What are they doing away from the rest of the Careers? It didn't matter, without Cato or Peeta here they could kill me, and when they see my face in the sky, they can blame it on somebody else. I got out as fast as I could with them on my tail and ran into the woods. Yes I had a weapon, but these arrows are precious, I can't waste them and risk missing. I found a big sturdy tree for me to climb and went up in it until I far a safe enough distance. The two of them were gathered around the base of the tree, taunting me.

"Come down here and fight Katniss!" Marvel shouted.

"Yeah and give me back my arrows!" complained Glimmer.

"Make me bitch!" I shouted down. In a huff she took one of Marvel's spears from his back and tried throwing it. She really sucks at weapons because it missed me but a foot. When I heard him complain about wasting his spears I sighed in relief, but that didn't mean they were going to leave.

"So where does everybody else think you are?" I asked them.

"Scouting the area and find water, which we did, but we also found you!" Glimmer taunted again. In the next second a giant nest fell down onto the ground, it was a Tracker Jacker nest. As the two of them ran with the flying demons after them, I looked around to find the source of the fallen nest. In the tree a few feet away I saw Rue standing on a branch with a knife in her hand and a smile on her face. I started to climb down and she followed after me.

"Are you okay?" she asked me concerned.

"Just a few burns." I said as I looked at my red blistering hand as she looked worriedly at my leg.

"Come on I know where we can find some plants to help." she said and I followed her to a nearby clearing. As she picked various plants and herbs I sat down on the ground and watched as she tended to my wounds. Now I wish I had paid more attention to my mom when she nursed the miners back to health. "I saw the giant fire." she commented.

"Yeah the Capitol fire." I replied.

"How did you burn your hand?" she asked and I sighed.

"My bow got too closer to a fire when I dropped it, and I didn't have time to cover my hand."

"Ouch." she said making a pinchy face.

"Got that right." I said back with a smile and she chuckled. "Have you seen anything with the Careers?"

"You mean with Cato and Peeta? Yeah, Peeta joined them to help protect you, that's the only reason Cato let him in. But for some reason he isn't with them anymore. I don't know where he is. Cato misses you, Clove does too. Cato also wishes that he was with you than the rest of the Careers." she said with a sly smile on her face. I blushed a little at this comment and turned my face away to hide it. "Is it all real?" she asked.

"Is what real?"

"You and Cato." she cooed childishly, but hey she is just a child.

"Yeah, yeah it's real." I said then I heard a faint beeping sound. We looked up and saw a parachute falling from the sky, it landed between us and when I opened it I saw a note on top of a small canister.

**Katniss-**

**Haymitch and I worked together to get this for you. Use it sparingly. Keep up the good work.**

**-Brutus**

"Wow, he seems really nice to get this for you. This stuff is expensive." Rue said and she opened the can of burn cream. I hissed a bit as she applied it to my wounds but it ended up giving a icy cool feeling.

"So where are the Careers?" I asked her.

"Well they're all by the Cornucopia, it's their main camp." she said and a smile came across her face. "Their supplies is piled up into a big pyramid." she said, thinking back to when she last saw it.

"Sounds tempting." I said with a curiousness tone in my voice.

"But what about Cato? Won't he get mad?"

"He knows that if worst comes to worst, to come and find me. And it's the Games, I do care about him, a lot, but things need to happen. And like I said he can come find me, he won't hurt you and we'll get through this for as long as we can." I explained to her but she looked at me confused.

"Why won't he hurt me?"

"He has seen that you and I have become close and he promised that he wouldn't." I explained and she nodded.

"So what's the plan?" she asked and I explained to her what I had in mind.

~Cato~

"Where the hell are they?" I complained out loud, slamming my sword into the ground so it stuck up out of it.

"Will you calm down? They'll be back any second." Clove said annoyed.

"They were just supposed to be scouting the area, not going to do whatever they want! What if they found Katniss? What if they have her right now?" I thought out loud, going into panic mode. If they were so far away and they had Katniss, I wouldn't be able to get there in time. I would let her down. I would let her family and friends down. All of the sudden I heard some screams and complaints. When I looked to see where it was coming from I saw Marvel and Glimmer running into the field swatting the last few bugs away before calming down and walking toward us grumbling.

"What happened to you two?" Clove asked skeptically.

"That brat from Eleven dropped a nest full of Tracker Jackers on us." Glimmer said in her snotty voice.

"All to save Fire Bitch." Marvel said complaining. My ears perked up at that comment.

"What about Katniss?" I said angrily getting into his face. He saw me upset, gulped and backed away.

"We ran into her when we were getting water. She was running from something." he stammered and I back away from him. What was she running from? Is she okay?

"What was she running away from?" Clove asked as if reading my mind.

"I don't know, I saw a lot of smoke coming from the direction she was running from." he said passing it off as nothing. To him it may be nothing, but to me it was practically everything. She could be hurt right now.

"Smoke?" I questioned.

"Yeah probably the Capitol getting bored and decided to set a fire." Glimmer said as she took off her jacket to inspect her body for any stings. Is she dense? If she was stung she would be having hallucinations by now. Finding none, she sat down by her tent and decided to relax.

"So besides that nothing happened?" I questioned again.

"Nope." Marvel said.

"Okay so answer me a few questions." I started walking towards him again. "What did you do when you saw Katniss?" I asked him and he kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. "Well?"

"We chased her until she climbed a tree. I took Marvel's spear to try and kill her but I missed, and that's when the little brat dropped the nest on us." Glimmer said from her spot by her tent. I turned to glare at her but she wouldn't see it, because she is just laying there on the ground with her hands behind her head and her eyes closed. I walked over and kicked her in her leg, making her wince. "Hey!" she gasped sitting up. I grabbed her shirt and hauled her up to eye level.

"Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't kill you right now for trying to kill Katniss?" I seethed. How dare she. How dare she try to kill her, I gave them orders to not touch a hair on Katniss's body.

"I'm sorry I promise I won't do it again!" she squealed and I dropped her like a doll. She huffed when I did and crawled into her tent. I went and sat down by the fire pit with my head in my hands, trying to stop myself from going to find Katniss.

~Katniss~

I explained to Rue what I wanted her to do. She would light a fire to distract them while I waited for them to leave their supplies unguarded, then I would do something to destroy it all, and she would keep lighting fire that we would set up. A hour later we were setting up the last fire to be lit, covering it with green stuff.

"Okay now this is really gonna smoke so when its light you run okay?" I said and she nodded, nervously. "Hey don't worry, I'll be back for dinner in one piece. Okay? I promise." I said and she hugged me around the waist. When she pulled away she took off to where the first fire was, I went back to the spot I found where I had a perfect view of the camp.

Marvel was the first to take notice, he pointed to the smoke in the distance and they all gathered their weapons and as Cato reached over to grab his sword his eyes met mine. How can he see me that easily. His eyes flickered when he saw me, but I put a finger to my lips that told him to be quiet. His eyes were curious but with a quick "I'm sorry" mouthed to him, he took off after the rest of the Careers, leaving the boy from three, Gadge, to keep guard. As his back was turned I was not the only one who was near the Cornucopia, because a few seconds later Foxface runs from the tree lines and does some sort of routine, bouncing from one spot to another very carefully. What is she doing? It's like she's avoiding something. I looked around and saw that the pedestals were gone. The mines, he reactivated them and buried them around the pile. She grabbed a big bag of apples from the base of the pile, hopped back out, and ran off. Then another tribute, another girl, I think she's from ten, she was not so lucky. Gadge saw her and threw the spear he held and killed her. She fell, but she didn't trigger the mines. So when Gadge walked a ways to check and make sure nobody else was around, I stepped out, positioned an arrow and shot, I just barely made a rip in a bag of apples towards the top, I had to make another shot and this one had to be better. I notched one more arrows, aimed, and fired.

One by one the apples tumbled to the ground. One of the apples fell on just the right spot because I was blown back by the explosion. When I opened my eyes again, my ears were ringing and I saw blood, not just mine from a cut on my head, but Gadge's as well, he was too close and was blown away, his body parts litters the ground like coal dust back in the Seam. The Careers were coming back, and Cato saw me as I tried to discretely crawl away, he was shaking his head at me sad but also disappointed. I warned him and apologized before he left, but I guess it wasn't enough. Who knows what is left of our relationship now, because I killed a big lifeline of his, but now he'll figure out just how hard it is to survive without the luxury of the supplies.

Once I got to the tree line I took off to where the third fire should have been. But it hasn't been touched. What happened? Is Rue okay? Did she stop once she heard the explosion? I walked around from fire to fire, whistling the four note tune as I did, but I got no response, until I heard it.

"Katniss!" Rue shrieked. Sprinting, I went in the direction of her screams, she sounded frightened, and she probably is. "Katniss!" she shouted once more as she came into view. There she was, under a net from a trap probably set by the Careers. I ran to her and cut her loose.

"It's okay, you're safe." I cooed when I heard a gasp, then I turned and saw Glimmer standing there. She threw the spear in her hand and I whipped out an arrow and shot it at her. It landed in her neck and her cannon went off. I sighed in relief when I heard it but stiffened at what I heard next.

"Katniss." Rue whimpered. I turned around and my heart nearly stopped. There she was pulling the bloody spear from her stomach. She dropped it and collapsed in my arms.

"You're okay, you're going to be okay." I said, my voice shaking as tears fell down my cheek.

"Did you blow up the food?" she asked, barely above the whisper. I nodded and she blinked, letting a tear fall. "Good. You have to win." she whispered.

"I promise." I said, another promise, to her and to Prim, that I am going to win.

"Can you sing?" she asked and I nodded again.

"_Deep in the meadow,_

_under the willow._

_A bed of grass,_

_a soft green pillow."_

I sang and continued as I laid her down with her jacket zipped up and crossed her arms over her chest. I stood up and picked some wild flowers and laid them all out around her. When I was done I started to walk away but one last thing came to mind. I turned around, found a camera, pressed my three middle finger to my lips and held them up for everybody to see. I know this is going to get me into a heap of trouble, but right now it didn't matter. I didn't care. The Capitol just killed an innocent child, she probably never did one bad thing in her life. With tears running down my face I finally walked away. Soon, I couldn't take it anymore, I had to stop. The tears were too much and I couldn't see where I was going. She was so much like my sister, like Prim. When I saw her pull the spear out of her stomach, I saw Prim. That vision sit in my mind, haunting, not allowing the tears to stop. So I sat down and I cried, for the first time in a long time.

~Brutus~

"Do you really think this is going to work Haymitch?" I clarified as we walked to the Gamemaker Center.

"Yes, the Capitol loves the love story between Cato and Katniss." he said as we walked along. "It'll work."

"And what about Peeta? He's Spitfire's best friend, she won't like him dying." I pointed out.

"He's already come to terms with dying and understands that Katniss only sees him as a brother. And he's okay with it." he said but I didn't quite believe it. We finally made to the Gamemakers room and Seneca stood there waiting to talk to us.

"What can I do for you?"

"We have a proposition for you." Haymitch said.

"How hard would it be to get two Tributes out of the Games?" I asked and Seneca doubled over in laughed.

"It simply isn't possible." he said wiping a fake tear from his eyes.

"Even if it's Cato and Katniss?" Haymitch asked. "The Capitol loves these two. If only one comes out you will lose them. You've seen them in the Games, they love each other. And think of the uproar the Capitol will bring if you kill off one of them." he wagered and Seneca thought for a moment.

"I'll see what I can do. Now if you'll excuse me." he said before turning away from us and going back into the Gamemakers room.

"That went well." I said as we walked away from the closed door.

"Let's just hope it works." Haymitch said.

~Katniss~

"_Attention Tributes. There has been a sudden rule change. The last two Tributes standing may win this years Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor._" Claudius said over a giant speaker as I walked around to find the big river again. Cato and I could get out of here, we could win this together. But then there's Peeta, my best friend. I owe him so much after he saved my life. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. All of this was running through my head as I found the running river. My sigh of relief turned into a gasp when something grabbed my foot. I looked down and saw a face disguised as a rock.

"Peeta?" I gasped.

"Hi." he said weakly as I bent down to clear the rocks and plants off of him he used to disguise himself.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah except my leg." he said and we made quick work of cleaning him off. When I saw his leg I almost puked. "It's bad huh?" he said.

"It's not that bad." I lied as I poured water on it to wash the blood away.

"Katniss-"

"Shh" I shushed him.

"Katniss you don't have to-"

"No, you need help, I'm not gonna leave." I told him.

"What about Cato?"

"He's fine." I dismissed. At least I sure hope he is, but after what I did, I'm not sure if he is. When I had the wound cleaned of blood, the best that I could, I managed to get him up and limping with my help to a nearby cave. I laid him down and grabbed my bow and quiver. "I'm going to get some herbs for your leg, and find some food." I told him and he nodded. I was gone for a long time, long enough that it started to get dark. I had some herbs that would hopefully help but I wasn't sure. I walked back to the cave and found him shivering, even with his jacket on. I knelt down beside him and applied the herbs to his wound. Chewing them first before I put them on.

"How did this happen?" I asked him.

"A spear. Marvel caught me leaving the camp with some supplies and he got me. I just took the spear out and ran. He didn't chase after me though." he explained through his shivers and hissing from me touching his leg.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"It's not your fault."

"I know, I'm just sorry."

And this is how the next two days went. Peeta was getting worse and what I was trying to do wasn't helping him much. There weren't any more Parachutes. I don't know why Haymitch wouldn't send something. I hunted for food, I gathered water, I collected herbs, I tried to live the best that I could. Everyday I feared that Peeta, my best friend, was going to die. Everything I tried to feed Peeta wouldn't stay down. I didn't know what to do. I also hoped that Cato and Clove were okay. They didn't know how to hunt or survive without the supplies from the Cornucopia, they never tried. I counted off everybody that was alive in my head, me, Peeta, Cato, Clove, Marvel, Foxface, and Thresh. So few of us left but it still seemed like a lot, at least until two of us win. Every hour I hoped for an announcement for the Feast at the Cornucopia but none came, until later the night of the second day.

"_Attention Tributes, at dawn there will be a Feast. And before you think about not coming hear me out. At the Feast is something each of you need very much. May the odds be ever in your favor." _

"The medicine." I said trying to stand up.

"Katniss you can't go." Peeta said sternly, grabbed my jacket and pulling me back down to the ground.

"Why not? Peeta you're dying, I'm going to do anything I can to try and save you."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked in one last attempt to get me to stay.

"Because you're my best friend. You saved my life, now let me try to save yours." I told him before I gave him one last hug before I made my way to the Cornucopia. The feast isn't until dawn, but who knows how long it's going to take to get there.


	8. Run

~Katniss~

I made it to the clearing before dawn, now all I had to to was wait. To keep myself safe I climbed up into a tree for the night. I only got a few minutes of sleep, I didn't want to miss anything. It was too important. A few minutes later a hover craft dropped down and a Peacekeeper came and set the bags down on a big table. 1, 2, 5, 11, and 12, a bag for everybody that is left. I was about to jump out but somebody beat me to it, Foxface sprinted out, grabbed her bag, and ran away. So I took this as my chance.

I ran as fast as I could to the table, grasped my bag and turned to run, but there was Marvel running towards me with a spear in hand, ready to be thrown. He threw it with deadly accuracy and I dodge it but I nicked my forehead. As I was disoriented he tackled me to the ground. He kicked and I tried to punch but he always dodged my attempts. I clawed at his face and he screamed in pain as my fingers drew bloody lines down his face. He grabbed my hands in his wrists and held them above my head as he straddled my waist. He transferred my hands into one of his while he took a rather long and ragged knife from his belt, how did I miss that?

"Well Girl on Fire. Where are your boyfriends?" he taunted, lightly maneuvering the tip of the knife around my face, not piercing the skin. "Well Peeta is probably dead, I know where I stuck him. And Cato he's probably given up on you after what you did to the supplies." he said and I spit in his face, Cato would never give up. "You're going to pay for that Fire Bitch." he sneered as he drew the knife back above him the slam into my heart. This is it, I'm going to die, and now so is Peeta. I waited for the pain, for the darkness, but it never came. I opened my eyes and saw Marvel get pulled off of me, I didn't see who it was, I didn't have time to. My fight or flight senses were high and right now they were on flight. I was almost to the tree line when I heard a cannon, and I hoped it was Marvel. I had to get back to Peeta, he needs the medicine. I ran through the forest, not caring when the low branches of a tree whipped me in the face, I didn't care, none of it matter as long as I was able to help my best friend. I finally made it back to the cave when I saw Peeta, laying there barely breathing.

"Peeta!" I said rushing to him. "I got it, I got the medicine." I said taking it out of the bag and opening it up.

"Too late." he choked out.

"No Peeta! Don't leave me please!" I shouted, not caring if another Tribute heard me. Tears were streaming down my face as I pleaded to him. I attempted to put some of the cream on his leg but it didn't matter.

"I love you." he breathed out before he stopped breathing entirely.

"No Peeta!" I shrieked. "Peeta!" I said sobbing. I pressed my head to his chest, trying to hear a heartbeat, but it was silent, _he _was silent. "No!" I shouted. I sobbed into his chest, crying my eyes out. My best friend, I lost my best friend. He died because I left, to try and save him. If I had found him earlier, he might've survived. All I could do was cry, my body felt numb, I didn't know what to do now. I didn't want to leave. The Games, they took another person I cared about from me, and there was nothing I could do about it. If his cannon went off, I didn't hear it because I was sobbing too loudly.

"Katniss?" a male voice asked behind me, I didn't have to look to know that it was Cato. But I couldn't move, I just kept crying. He came over and tried to pull me away, to get me to stop looking at Peeta.

"No!" I shouted pulling away from him. I still cried.

"Katniss, come on. He's gone, it's too late." he said sympathetically, but I still couldn't move, I was just numb.

"I can't move." I sobbed as he pulled me to his chest.

"You have too."

"I'm just numb." I whimpered. Clove took my bow, quiver, and back pack from me and as Cato carried me bridal style out of the cave as best as he could without falling over from the rocks. When we were out of the cave the sun was high in the sky. He continued to carry me as I cried into his chest, whispering soothing words to me to try to calm to me. They brought me to a small clearing in the woods, surrounded by willow trees. Cato set me down so that I could lean against one of them and started to apply the medicine from the feast to my cuts, Peeta's medicine. Clove started to build a small fire after she tended to a wound on her leg. I didn't notice that she was limping, because I was too busy crying into Cato's chest. When he was done applying the cream to my body I asked a question that had been on my mind.

"How did you find me?" I whispered.

"We followed you after we killed Marvel. We almost lost sight of you but then we heard you crying and found you. I'm so sorry about Peeta. I know how much he meant to you." Cato said, but all I could do is nod in response. Cato looked down at the ground before looking back at me. "Please Katniss, don't shut me out." he pleaded. A few more tears fell from my eyes and he came close to wipe them away, I cuddled into his chest. Not sure of what else to do right now.

"I'm going to go find something to eat." Clove said feeling slightly awkward, Cato nodded her to go and she left, leaving the two of us by the crackling fire.

"Katniss please talk to me."

"I was too late. I tried to get the medicine to save him but I was too late." I whimpered. His arms tightened around me and I nuzzled my face into his chest even more. His hand came up and caressed my hair that was pulled out of it's braid by the trees when I was running. We just sat there, him holding me, until my tears were all dried up.

"Everything will be okay. I'm here, I've got you. Nothing else can hurt you." he said and I just nodded, not knowing what else to say. His hand ran up and down my back and I shivered remembering my scars are still there. "Sorry." he apologized for making me shiver.

"It's okay I just remember my scars." I said.

"Why did you get them?" he asked softly and I shifted slightly. I remembered giving him a brief explanation of my scars on the roof of the Training Center, but I didn't give a lot of detail.

"I was in the woods of Twelve and I was hunting for food. When I went back into town to trade it, a new Peacekeeper caught me with it. He had no idea who I was or knew what the pain of starving was like yet. So he turned me in. I got ten whips for being outside the fence, and ten for hunting illegally." I whispered softly to him. If the cameras heard it they would punish my family for being apart of it and I couldn't let that happen. His grip on me tightened and he pulled me tighter to his chest.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered into my hair. "I won't let anything like that happen to you ever again." he promised an I nodded.

"Thank you." I said with full gratitude. A few minutes later Clove came back with some grouslings and a rabbit.

"This is the best I could do." she said holding them up when she came back. I looked at it and jumped at the chance to get everything off my mind, I needed a distraction.

"Give them here, I'll skin them." I said holding my hand out.

"Kat are you sure? Do you know how to do this?" Cato asked me.

"I know how to hunt Cato, I can do this." I told him softly. I pulled out the knife that Clove threw to me during the Bloodbath and began to skin the dead animals, she hit them in the head, which is perfect because she didn't ruin any of the meat on them. Once I had them all cleaned I stuck them on a stick to cook over the fire. Clove stared at me in surprise while Cato just looked at me in awe. When it came to this stuff, I worked on autopilot, I didn't need to think, I just had to do.

"How do you know how to do this?" Clove asked me.

"I told you, I know how to hunt." I said as I rotated the rabbit again.

"And this is how you survived back home?" Cato asked me and I just nodded.

"We all had to if we wanted to live." I said in a monotone voice. They were quiet after that, we just sat there and ate the meat that we had. It took them a bit to get used to.

"You survived off of this?" Clove asked me surprised again.

"Yeah, I know it's an acquired taste but back home we had spices and stuff to give it some flavor."

"It isn't too bad, if I was stuck here for a few more days I'd be good with this." she said as she took a big bite of grousling.

"The food back at the Academy probably seemed like Capitol food." Cato said with a chuckle and I smiled a little, thinking back to my first meal there. For the rest of the night we just told stories trying to remember happier times before this, and wondered what life was like before there were Districts. That night after Clove had fallen asleep in her sleeping bag, Cato pulled himself up next to me.

"You okay?" he asked wrapping an arm around me.

"Yeah, I just wish none of us were here." I said looking at Clove.

"When I saw Rue's face in the sky that night, I thought of you. I know you two teamed up for a bit, when you blew up our supplies." he said.

"I've tried my best to ignore the anthem and the faces in the sky at night." I said.

"How did she die?" he finished.

"She got caught in a net trap that was set up. I cut her out but Glimmer found us, she threw a spear she had with her and I moved Rue out of the way but with Glimmer bad aim I guess I moved her into the right spot. I shot Glimmer and killed her on instinct. When I turned back to Rue, she was pulling the spear out of her stomach and she made me promise to win for her. And she asked me to sing for her." I explained, a tear fell from my eye. This is the most I've cried on one day than I have in a long long time.

"I'm sorry you lost her." he whispered to me as he put his forehead to my temple.

"I'm sorry I blew up your stuff." I said looking down at my hands.

"Hey I probably would've done the same thing if I was in your position." he said cracking a tiny smile.

"She was so small, so innocent." I said looking back at Clove, remembering how young she still is, only fourteen. "Rue probably never did anything wrong in her life. Peeta, we weren't always the best behaved kids but he was still good at heart. And Clove, she just wanted to prove herself good enough, and she already had." I choked out, more tears forming in my eyes.

"Hey, none of us should be here. When I met you, you changed me. Made me realize that emotions, they don't make a person weak, they make you stronger. They give you something to fight for. What we feel for others is something worth fighting for. Katniss, _ you_ are what I'm fighting for." he said deep kindheartedly. I looked up at him and saw the genuine truth in his eyes. I reached up, cupped his cheek, and pulled him down to me. He kissed me back sweetly and lovingly. His hand held my face to his while his arm remained around my waste. After a few minutes we had to pull away, this wasn't the place or time for all of that. I fell asleep in his arms while he stayed awake to keep watch. I told him that when he got tired to wake me up so I could take watch, he just nodded, not promising anything.

~Cato~

After Katniss fell asleep I did more watching her than watching our surroundings. When we were on the Victory Tour, she had nightmares after being whipped, now after losing Rue and Peeta, who knows what could happen with her nightmares. I wasn't going to wake her up when I got tired, she's exhausted herself today and I don't know how much sleep she's gotten the past few days. When I got tired I nudged Clove's foot with mine to wake her up. She awoke with a start and grabbed a knife from her belt and held up up, but when she saw it was just me she relaxed.

"Need me to take next watch?" she whispered to me and I nodded.

"Kat wanted me to wake her up so she could take watch but..." I trailed off looking down at the sleeping beauty in my arms.

"She's had a rough day and she needs her rest." Clove said with a nod of understanding. She set herself up so she could take watch and when I was sure that she was good and ready I wrapped my arms tighter around Katniss and rested my head against her's that was laying between my neck and shoulder, right in the crook.

All that night I thought about all that Katniss and I have been through. First back at the Academy and all that I had done and said to her. Clove was right, when she came to my house and told me that I would feel really guilty for degrading Katniss's District. All those times I called her scum and filth I hope she never took it to heart, because that's what most people call the citizens from District Twelve. After thinking about all that I did, including kissing her that one night at the track I finally fell asleep.

_ I was walking, through an open field with wild flowers blowing in the breeze. There is only one or maybe two places that I've seen this before. On the Victory Tour when Katniss and I explored District One and walked to the fence. One in District Twelve when Clove and I slipped through the fence. Clove, I had lost her to the Games, she sacrificed herself so Katniss and I could win. But now there were no more Games, the Rebellion had been won by the Rebels, with Katniss and I leading them. _

_ Katniss. Where is she? I circled around to look for her and then I saw her, standing there with a swelling stomach and holding the hand of our first born child. She looked just like her mother, the same nose, hair, shape of her face, but she had my eyes. It was rare to have blue eyes and dark brown hair, but the two of us falling in love and being together is rare itself, being from practically different worlds. The two of them smiled at me and I smiled back walking to them. My button up shirt blowing the breeze since the top three buttons were undone. That is when I found out that I was barefoot when I looked down at my khaki covered legs. Katniss walked towards me in her long flowing dress, a cream type color that stood out against her tan skin. I reached out to take her hand, her diamond ring glistening on her hand and my gold band shined in the sun as well. _

"_Hey baby." I said to her, then bending down to bring her growing stomach at eye level. "Hey baby." I whispered before giving it a soft kiss. Katniss giggled then I knelt down in front of our daughter. "Hey Clover." I said calling her by her nickname._

"_It's Clove Daddy!" she squealed as I picked her up and held her. We named her after Clove, she was both of our friends and the three of us had been through so much together. _

"_Happy 3rd birthday baby girl." I said to her and she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck. Katniss smiled at the two of us and I reached out and took her hand once again. I set our laughing girl down and leaned in to give my wife a kiss, I felt the baby kick in her stomach and I pulled away laughing._

"_He's says hi." Katniss said, her voice was like music to my ears. _

"_How do you know its a boy?" I asked her with a smile. _

"_I just kno- ow." she said holding her stomach._

"_Whoa are you okay?" I asked her and she shook her head._

"_No, the baby is coming." she said as she clutched her stomach again and screamed out in pain. I helped her lay down to get her more comfortable. She was bleeding, that can't be good._

"_Daddy what wrong with mommy?" Clove shrilled sounding frightened._

"_It's gonna be okay." I said out loud, not sure to who but it didn't matter, I just needed to help Katniss. After what seemed like hours of pushing and screams, our new child was here. "You were right Katniss, it's a boy." I said taking a ripped piece of cloth I tore from her dress and wrapping it around the baby. I still had to cut the umbilical cord but I didn't have anything with me. "Katniss?" I asked looking at her. Her head was tilted to the side and her eyes will closed. "Katniss!" I said scaring the new baby boy. I set him down gently and rushed to Katniss. She wasn't moving or saying anything._

"_Katniss!" I shouted._

"_Cato!" somebody said around me, it didn't come from Katniss, so who did it come from?_

"Cato!" I opened my eyes and saw a worried Katniss in front of my eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked sounding concerned.

"Yeah you were saying her name over and over and was squirming a bit." Clove said as she covered the last of the remaining fire with dirt. I looked up at the sky before rubbing my hand over my eyes, trying to get them to adjust.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a nightmare." I said to them.

"Anything you'd want to talk about?" Katniss asked in a caring voice. I smiled softly at her and shook my head.

"Not right now. Too many prying ears." I said looking around me at the trees where the cameras were.

"Hey!" Clove said thinking I was talking about her.

"Not you." I said to her rolling my eyes. She threw a twig at me and I caught it just in time before it hit my face. I looked back at Katniss and saw that her cuts were cleared up. "Your cuts are all gone."

"Thanks to Haymitch."

"Glimmer and Marvel told us that there was a fire when you and Rue dropped the nest on them." Clove said. "Did you get burned?" she asked.

"Yeah it seemed like a wall of fire. And I did but Rue helped me until Haymitch and Brutus sent me some burn cream." she said as she showed us the part of her pants that was burned through. I rested my hand on her's and sighed.

"I'm sorry you got burned."

"It's okay, I'm all good now." she said giving me a reassuring smile and I just nodded. "So what are we going to do today?" she asked to Clove and I.

"Stay alive." Clove said sarcastically and I chuckled.

"No seriously." Katniss said.

"I don't know. All that's left is Thresh, Foxface and us three." I explained and Katniss sighed.

"I wonder what they'll have in store for the finale." Clove thought aloud.

"Who knows." Katniss said looking down at her hands. We stood up and started walking, trying to find something to eat Clove was walking in front of us while I walked next to Katniss. I wanted to know that she was alright. As we walked I held her hand, rubbing circles on the back of her hand with my thumb.

"What happened in your nightmare?" she asked me out of nowhere.

"Are you sure you want to hear it now?" I asked her and she nodded. "It was the two of us, well three actually. We were together, married with a kid. It was her third birthday and we named her Clove." I whispered to her, I didn't want the cameras to hear it. "And you were pregnant with another. You went into labor but then something happened, you died giving birth and there was nothing I could to about it. All I had left of you was our three year old and the new baby boy." I said, looking down at the ground as I walked, trying to hide the tear that threatened to spill over. She tightened her grip on my hand and I looked at her. I guess she didn't know what to say because she leaned her head on my shoulder. I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her.

"Do you remember the nightmare you told me about on the train?" I asked her.

"Yeah." she said.

"From what I remember you said that I came to save you and some other stuff happened. What kind of other stuff?" I asked her and she blushed.

"Later." she said looking ahead at Clove. I just nodded, I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer until we are alone. A few minutes later we made it to a river where Katniss offered to wash our clothes off to get rid of the blood. I turned my back so Clove could take off her shirt to leave her in her jacket, and while I was waiting I took off my shirt but didn't put my jacket back on, it was hot out and I needed to cool off.

~Katniss~

I was scared to think of what was going to happen in the finale. What if something happened to Cato? I don't know what I would do. And if something happened to Clove, one of my best friends Cato and I will be devastated. But something is going to have to happen. Clove wants Cato and I to win, that much she has told me. But can Cato and I kill her? Not a chance. If she does die, I don't want it to be by our hands. All whose left is Thresh and Foxface besides us three. We haven't seen any sign of either of them. So we decided to spend part of the day at the river, doing through our supplies and what we have left. I have half a book of matches, my chain links, a now full water bottle, a sleeping bag, some rope, and the knife I've had since the beginning of the Games. Cato had night vision goggles, some dried fruit, a sleeping bag for himself, and a water bottle. Clove had just about the same thing, but a bag of nuts instead of fruit. Sitting at the river I was able to fashion out a fishing pole for Cato to use while I sat there and tried to wash some of the blood off of their clothing.

"Thanks for washing our clothes Katniss." Clove said wearing her jacket completely zipped up while I washed out her shirt the best that I could.

"No problem." I replied.

"Yeah they were starting to smell." Cato said pulling on the pole a bit. When I was done beating the shirt with a rock I rung it out before tossing it to Clove to let it dry over the fire she built. Cato's shirt was next, although he didn't wear his jacket.

"Cato will you put on your coat?" Clove begged.

"What you don't like it?" he teased, flexing his arms.

"I don't like seeing one of my best friends half naked." she sneered trying to dry her shirt.

"Katniss does." he said looking at me. I looked away from him blushing, it's no lie that he does look good shirtless. But did I really want to talk about this in front of the entire country? No not really. "Her blush says it all." he said and I didn't have to see his face to tell that he was smiling, you could hear it in his voice.

"Well duh, you're more than a friend to her. Katniss will you hurry up with his shirt."

"Well if he wasn't such a good fighter he wouldn't have this much blood on his clothing." I complained, I don't want to even think about what Marvel looked like when they were done with him.

"Marvel put up a good fight." he defended as I was finishing with his shirt.

"I'm sure he did." I said as I tossed his shirt to Clove.

"You'd think that if he was a good fighter there wouldn't be so much blood." She teased as she slipped her shirt on after getting it mostly dry so I helped her try to dry Cato's. When it was dry I walked back to Cato and handed it to him. While he put it on I took the make-shift fishing pole from his and sat on a big rock, waiting to catch something.

"Here Kat I can take it back." Cato said and I handed it to him when he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Clove sat down on a rock next to us and pulled some of the bandages away from her cut on her leg.

"You okay Clove?" I asked her and she hissed when the air hit it.

"Yeah I just got cut when we were fighting Marvel." she said. I shifted closer to her to get a better look at it.

"Let me see." I said and she leaned back to see her leg. "Looks like it tore the Rectus Femoris muscle." I told her before grabbing the container of cream I got from the Feast, it was just about gone, enough to cover the tip of my thumb. I covered her cut in it hoping it would help a little.

"Is that bad?" she asked nervously and I shook my head.

"Just barely missed the Femoral and Popliteal Arteries. You got really lucky." I told her wrapping a fresh bandage on her leg the best that I could.

"How do you know about this kind of stuff?" Cato asked.

"My mom is the town healer back home. We don't have all of the medication you guys have so we have to rely on herbs, but other than that its all the same." I told them. They just nodded and we went back to fishing. We spent most of the day there at the river, but around the time it should have been six in the afternoon it started to get dark and cold.

"What's going on?" Clove asked giving the sky a curious glare.

"They must be in a rush to end it." I said looking around for anything that might just out from the bushes. There was a sudden shrill scream from a ways away then a cannon. The face of Foxface lit up the sky and a growling came from my right.

"Look out!" I shouted, throwing myself at Clove to save her from a Mutt that jumped out of the bushes. It rolled and tumbled a few feet away before getting back up and launching itself at us.

"RUN!"


	9. Act In Love

~Katniss~

"_RUN!"_

Cato didn't need to tell me twice. Breathing heavily we sprinted to the Cornucopia where the mutts seem to be chasing us to. At first there was just one, but then more seemed to be coming out of nowhere. Now there were at least seven of them on our tail, snapping and biting at our heels. Branches and leaves whipped our faces and the cold wind didn't help the pain of it either. My lungs burned at the over use of them from running miles non-stop to the Cornucopia. As we ran faster, Cato in front of me, and Clove behind me, the mutts seemed to just faster as well. Finally the Cornucopia came into view and when we reached the giant metal structure each of us climbed to the top of it.

We stood there for a second watching the mutts snap and snarl at us that we didn't even hear Thresh climb up behind us. I screamed as he gripped my hair and pulled me back, he had a wild and crazed look in his eyes. The desperation to get home was clearly visible in them. Cato and Clove took out their weapons and tried to attack. Thresh lunged at them and Cato was the first to respond. The two of the fought while Clove tried to find a good angle to throw a knife. But they were moving to fast. My vision was slightly blurry from hitting my head against the cold metal exterior of the Cornucopia. A trickle of blood fell down my cheek, Thresh's weapons must've cut me. The next thing I know Cato is knocked to the ground dazed from a blow to the head. Clove took the time to throw a knife at Thresh but only hit his shoulder as he turned to face her. He pulled the knife out and lunged for her. She tried to jump out of the way but she was too late because he landed a blow in her stomach. She coughed and fell to the ground but no cannon goes off yet.

Thresh finally turned to me, not worrying about Cato for some reason, and takes out a long and extremely sharp knife. I couldn't get a good view of him to shoot an arrow at him, he thrust the knife down and it pierced my skin. But not enough to be fatal because Cato dove for him before Thresh could to any real damage. They rolled around on the ground near the edge of the Cornucopia scaring me half to death. Thresh was on top of Cato who held his wrists to stop the knife from entering his body. And in that moment is when Clove tossed one last knife into Thresh's back. That cannon fired, signaling his death. Cato tossed him over the edge of the structure and we hastily made our way over to Clove.

"Clove." I gasped as she lay on her back, a small stream of blood flowed out of her mouth.

"Kat-" she tried saying my name but was interrupted by a cough, letting more blood flow from her lips.

"You're going to be okay." Cato said from next to me, taking her torso and holding her in his lap. I gripped her hand in mine, she felt cold, ice to the touch.

"You have to-" she coughed again shutting her eyes tightly from the pain. "take care of my family." she said her breathing uneven but heavy as the coppery red substance filled her lungs.

"I promise." Cato said.

"Clove open your eyes please." I begged shaking her hand gently. Her eyes flickered open a sliver and looked up at the two of us. Her ice cold hand turning my own numb, like the rest of me as I lost yet another friend. First Rue, then Peeta, and now Clove, all because of the Capitol.

"I love you guys." she said with her last dying breath.

"Clove!" I shouted at her as her body became limp. If her cannon went off, I wasn't paying enough attention to hear it.

"Clove!" Cato pleaded. Tears fell down his face like a roaring river. I let go of Clove's hands and wrapped my arms around Cato's broad shoulders as he hugged Clove's limp body to his chest. He cried into her as I rocked him back an forth.

"_Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the winners of the 74__th__ Hunger Games._" a voice said over the loud speaker. Cato and I didn't listen to it though, we just sat there and continued to cry. A hovercraft flew over us and Peacekeepers came and tore us away from Clove, and away from each other. I thrashed against them trying to break away.

"Katniss!" Cato shouted with his hand out stretched to me. I reached out to him but before his hand could grasp mine a sharp pain burst in my shoulder and my world went dark.

White

That is all I can see right now. I woke up in a completely white room. White walls, floors, blankets, chairs, everything was white. The light was blinding, when I opened my eyes I shut them immediately as the white light blinded me, making my eyes scream. There was a beep coming from somewhere, a consistent beep. When my eyes adjusted I tried to sit up but I couldn't. There was a large strap across my torso and legs, and smaller straps binding my wrists and ankles to the bed. Tubes penetrated my skin pumping fluids and medicines into my body. I survived. I lived through the Hunger Games. Rue died. Clove died, one of my best friends. And then Peeta, he was one of my longest friends I've ever had and now he's gone. Because the Capitol wanted entertainment. I lost people that mattered to me. Cato. Where is he? Is he alright? Is he even alive? He has to be, there was an announcement saying that two people can live. And we did, we made it to the end. So where is he? Why isn't he here with me? There was a sound of an automatic door opening and when I looked to see who it was, it was everybody that helped me these past years. Haymitch, Brutus, Enobaria, Effie, and Cinna.

"Congratulations Sweetheart." Haymitch said resting a hand on my arm. I flinched slightly at the contact, after coming out of the state of unconsciousness my mind was still in the Arena, and these straps prevented me from getting into a fighting stance.

"How are you feeling?" Brutus asked once I relaxed.

"Angry, numb, sad, relieved, I just want to get out of here." I said, my throat hoarse from not being used and dryness. Effie scurried over and poured me a glass of water. I gulped it down and handed it back to her. "When do I get out of here?" I asked.

"When the doctor comes to give one last check up. Then Cinna will take you to get ready for the interview." Effie said setting a hand on Cinna's shoulder.

"The interviews already?" I asked.

"Yes, Cato has been out of the medical department for a day now." Brutus said.

"Why am I still here?" I asked confused.

"When Thresh tried to stab you on the Cornucopia, the one where Cato stopped him, a bit of the blade broke off and was still lodged in you. They had to perform surgery to get it out. And you went through a few more injuries than he did, so it took a little longer to get rid of the scars."

"What about the ones on my back?" I asked and everybody was silent for a moment.

"I asked them not to remove them." Brutus said. "I'll leave that decision up to you." he said and I nodded my head. I want to keep them, they remind me of why I fight to survive.

"How is Cato?" I asked.

"He wants to see you." Haymitch said.

"But he can't." Effie piped up.

"What why?" I asked angrily.

"President Snow said that he wants the reunion done live." Brutus said sounding equally angry. "He's been going crazy waiting." he finished.

"And I've been going crazy wondering whether or not he is okay." I said leaning my head back against the pillow. Brutus gave everybody a look and they left the room leaving Haymitch and him alone with me in the room.

"You are in trouble Katniss." Haymitch said quietly.

"What's going on?" I asked and they shook their heads.

"We'll talk about this when you get released." Brutus said. A moment later a doctor came in and ushered them out. The doctor checked me over before clearing me and having an Avox give me a change of clothing. When I walked out of the room I saw Cinna standing there alone. Everybody else was gone.

"Where did they go?" I asked him.

"Haymitch and Effie went up to the suite and Brutus went back to Cato." he said hesitantly putting an arm around my shoulders. When I didn't flinch he relaxed and ushered me to the elevator that will take us up to the top floor. Haymitch was there waiting for me to get back and when I did he took me up to the roof. At first I hoped that Cato would be there as well but when I saw he wasn't my shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"What's going on Haymitch?" I asked him and he gave a heavy sigh.

"Snow is angry. He didn't want you two to come out alive but because of this romance he didn't have another choice. Plus what you did with Rue wasn't good either. You made them look like fools and he is very upset." he explained glaring out at the city.

"So what do I have to do?" I asked him resting my hands on the ledge in front of me.

"Act in love. And if you already are, be more in love."

"But I'm not acting. I do really care about Cato. What does Cato think of all of this?"

"Brutus and I have already talked about it and he's said the same thing you did. He isn't acting." Haymitch said to me and I felt my heart swell in happiness at the sound of this. He loves me, but I want him to tell me himself. "Come on we should get you back so your team can get you ready." When I got back I was taken to my room where my prep team went to work. They didn't say anything, they tried to be a gentle as possible. They know by now how much Rue, Peeta, and Clove meant to me, so they won't go on talking about it. They just gave me space and I appreciated that. When they were finished my hair was in curls around me shoulders and my make-up was a soft gray color. Almost like the color of ash. Cinna came in a moment after the prep team left with a garment bag. I closed my eyes as he instructed and felt a light and soft feeling as the material brushed against my skin. When I opened my eyes again I was in a pale yellow colored dress. The skirt was full but the material was light, and my short sleeves fell off my shoulders, resting there. I turned to Cinna and smiled softly.

"Still trying to make me the Girl on Fire?"

"Yes but a softer side of you. Like a dimly lit candle after the loss of your friends." he said and I hugged him. This is the most human contact I've had since I've been out of the Arena, and it felt a little weird but I was getting used to I slowly. He hugged me gingerly and pulled away, grabbing the matching shoes from the chair beside him and setting them on the ground to I can step into them. We walked out into the living room and we loaded into the Elevator. On the Ride down Haymitch held my hand. I'm about to sit on stage and relive the Games over again. Only he out of all of us has been through that so he knows that I am terrified. When we made it to the stage I stood on a pedestal that will raise me up onto the stage. Haymitch gave me one last hug before going to take his place by Effie and Cinna when they announce my team. I heard Caeser announce my team and Cato's before he said something I had been waiting for.

"Now may I present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games Cato Hart and Katniss Everdeen!" the plate rose and the cheers and screams were deafening. When I was up all the way I looked over and saw Cato staring at me. I smiled and broke into a run, lunging myself in his arms. He held me tight to his chest, picking me up off the ground, planting kisses on my cheek and neck.

"Thank God you're okay." I said to him. He pulled away from me, setting me down on my feet and brushed a few curls away from my face.

"I love you." he said whispered to me. My smile grew and I leaned up and kissed him.

"I love you too." I whispered quietly, his smile grew and he leaned down to kiss me again. My arms wrapped around his neck as one of his was around my waist, and his other hand held my face to his. Our lips moved in sync as the crowd went more wild than they did before. I wish it was just the two of us with nobody else around. I wanted to be alone with him in our own place. Caeser came and tapped us on the shoulder and we knew we had to pull apart, no matter how much we didn't want to. We faced the crowd and Cato kept a protective arm around me, and giving me one last kiss on the cheek.

"I'll never let anybody hurt you again." he promised in my ear and I smiled up at him. In these heels he was only a few inches taller than me. Caeser, clad in all red this time, lead us over to the loveseat that replaced the usual chair. When we sat down I sat on the left closest to the crowd but Cato pulled me to his lap and held me there. The crowd laughed at him.

"So Cato, Katniss, how does it feel to be alive?" Caeser asked us.

"It feels great. I'm alive and I have Katniss it's everything I could ever want." Cato said kindheartedly. A blush crept on my face as I made my answer.

"I don't know what I would do without him. We've had our differences in the past but we've gotten over them. I'm just happy to be alive here with him." I said looking at him and he leaned in to kiss me once more.

"How did it feel to have your friends in the Games with you?" Caeser asked me.

"I was terrified. Peeta-" my voice cracked when I said his name and tear threatened to spill over as I tried to fight them. "he has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Clove had been my friend too. After getting to know Cato, Clove became a friend to me, one of my best friends. I don't know what it's going to be like living everyday without them." I said, tears spilled over my cheeks and Cato hugged me tighter to his chest letting me cry.

"Cato how did you feel when Katniss blew up your supplies?"

"At first I was a little upset, when I saw her in the trees I expected something was going to happen but I thought it would just be taking something from the pile. When I heard the explosion I panicked. But when I didn't see her body I was relieved but upset at what she did. But then Clove reminded me that either one of us would have done the same if the roles were reversed." he explained. By the time he was done talking I had finished crying.

"I see. It must have been hard for you to lose a close friend to you Cato?" Caeser asked him tapping his finger on his chin. Cato grew stiff against me and I reached to hold his hand. He gripped it and held it tightly.

"Clove has been my best friend for years. I saw her every day for hours at a time. To go home and see her family I-" he started to choke up as a small tear fell down his cheek. Tears started to fall down mine as well as I hugged him.

"It's okay. We understand." Caeser said but he couldn't. He couldn't possibly understand what it's like to lose your best friends to the Games. "Would you say that is the worst thing you'll have from the Games?" Caeser asked.

"No, the worst for me would have to be the nightmares. Both mine and her's. I got out of the hospital before Katniss. But the doctors said I couldn't see her. I would sit outside her door in the hospital whenever I could. It nearly killed me to hear her screams and not do anything about it because her door was locked." Cato said regaining his composure.

"Katniss?" Caeser continued. But I was too busy looking up at Cato in surprise, I hadn't known that he did that. I could tell he wasn't lying, he was telling the absolute truth. "Katniss?" he egged on.

"Oh um, it would be the nightmares, seeing those faces every night. I just-" I had to stop. All I could think about were the night terrors I had in the hospital, they were to horrifying to say aloud, it would only make them much more real. Cato hugged me even tighter as I buried my face in his neck.

"Well how about we stop the questions and watch the Games huh?" he said looking out towards the crowd as the big screen behind us started out with the Reapings. It was horrible to watch them an experience them all over again. Through every moment in the Arena, the Bloodbath where Cato killed children easily, to me running for my life from the fire. Cato kissed my cheek when he saw me get burned.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you" he apologized again quietly. I turned my head to face him and rest my forehead against his.

"I'm here now. You're here now, that's all that matters." When we turned back to the screen Glimmer and Marvel had noticed me and were chasing me. Cato glared at that but then smirked and lightly chuckled when Rue dropped the nest on the two District One Careers. When they show Rue's death I had cried once more, they had cut the three finger salute I had done, but not the flowers. Then I had found Peeta and tried to nurse him back to health.

"I'm sorry you had to lose him." Cato whispered in my ear. I sighed trying to push back more tears that threatened to follow but I couldn't. My barriers were down and I couldn't rebuild them at the moment. I don't know if I'll ever be able to. I watched as Cato and Clove fought with Marvel as he tried to kill me at the Feast. They had killed him by cutting off his head. I turned away has his head rolled on the ground. As they set off to find me, tracking me through the trees and chasing me down they paused when they got to the rivers but then they heard my screams. And they found me and helped me as I cried over Peeta. The cameras kept going back and forth between the three of us, Foxface, and Thresh. Finally it got to the finale. Cato and Clove fighting to protect me as I was dazed on the top of the Cornucopia. When he stabbed Clove I squeaked in horror, and Cato reached up to wipe a tear away. He had some falling down his cheek as well but before I could do the same for him, he angrily brushed them away. They ended the showing with Cato and I screaming each others name and reaching out to each other. The crowd around us clapped and cheered for us as we walked off the stage. Once we were back stage he swept me up in a hug and planted soft kisses all over my face.

"I love you. I love you . I love you." he said over and over again after every kiss before placing one last long kiss on my lips. My hands had woven themselves in his hair as he kissed me.

"Okay you two cut it out." Brutus said behind me. Cato and I broke apart and looked at him.

"You had to have expected it at some point sir." I said to him and he waved a hand.

"No need to call me sir anymore Spitfire. You're a Victor, we are on the same level now." he said. "I hope you don't mind me calling you by your old name." he said hopefully and I shook my head with a tiny smile.

"Not at all."

"Good cause I would've done it either way." he says as Haymitch comes towards us.

"Come on you two, time to be crowned." he said and lead us to our Victor chairs where President Snow will place a crown on our heads. Cato held my hand the entire time. As Snow place the gold crown on my head he looked at my pin.

"What a lovely pin." he said with an unsure tone to his voice.

"Thank you it's from my District." I told him.

"Indeed." he said lastly before turning to the crowd below us. "The Victors of the 74th Hunger Games!" he shouted and everybody cheered. Finally we were allowed to go back to our rooms. Cato and I stood in the elevator as I pushed the button for the 12th floor. I was half expecting him to press the button to take him to the second floor but he didn't.

"You aren't going back to your floor?" I asked looking up at him with confused eyes.

"My floor is whatever floor you're on. I don't want to leave you ever again." he said to me seriously. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. His arms wrapped around my waist as I whispered in his ear.

"And I don't want you to leave me either." I whispered as the doors dinged telling us that we were at the top floor. We pulled away and he let me go as I walked into my room to change into something better to wear and more comfortable. I settled on black silk pants and a red silk, sleeveless shirt. I laid my dress on the bed to be taken care of later, and I kicked off my shoes and decided to stay barefoot. When I was one I walked back out to find Haymitch and Brutus sitting in the living room. I couldn't see Cato around anywhere.

"Where's Cato?" I asked as I sat in a hair across from them on as they sat on the couch, each of them had a glass of alcohol in their hands.

"He's getting changed out of his monkey suit." Brutus said as Cato walked out of his room in black cotton pants and a white t-shirt. He saw me, smiled, and picked me up and sat back down so I was in his lap once again. He kissed me on the cheek, making me blush as I snuggled into him.

"Alright enough with the lovey dovey stuff please, not around me at least." Haymitch complained.

"Sorry Haymitch." Cato said with a small smile, but I could tell something was bothering him. And I hope that he would tell me when he's ready.

"Yeah yeah sure you're sorry." Haymitch mumbled as he stood up and walked to his room.

"You two did good tonight." Brutus said.

"Thanks." Cato and I said together. Our old Trainer nodded before getting up and going to his room too. Cato and I sat there in silence for a while before I couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"No. I don't want to be in the Capitol anymore. Everything I had trained for growing up isn't what it seemed at all. I'm confused and angry and I just want to go home. All my life I had been told that winning the Games is honorable. But there is nothing honorable about killing innocent kids. I feel horrible for what I did to them. I just wish that we didn't have to lose people we loved for me to realize it." he said and I turned in his lap to face him.

"You did what you had to do to survive. Clove and Peeta dying wasn't our fault. And you didn't know any better. That's how you grew up. You can't blame yourself for something that Capitol was trying to make you believe. Anything and everything that is done in the Games is their fault. They forced us to do it." I said as I held his face in my hands making him look at me.

"That doesn't make me feel much better. What's going to happen when we see the families of those who died? What about Clove's family? Her brother is handicap and they have a hard time surviving with her father's deli." Cato said.

"We promised that we would take care of them. And that's exactly what we are going to do." I assured him.

"What about Peeta's family?" he asked and at that moment I was speechless. I hadn't thought about it, because I didn't want to. Would his family hate me for leaving him? Even though I tried to help him but it was too late? His mom will probably hate me, she never really liked me to begin with. But his brothers and father? I have no idea. "Katniss?" Cato asked pulling me from my thoughts and slight panic.

"What?" I said snapping out of it.

"Are you okay?" he asked placing a hand on my cheek and stroking my face with his thumb.

"I don't know. Should I be happy that the two of us are alive? Or sad and angry that our best friends are gone? Peeta's family, I don't know what to do, his mother will hate me but I don't know about the rest of his family."

"We did everything we could to save Peeta and Clove, everything. They should understand that you tried but it was too late, because Marvel tried to stop you and kill you. But you still tried. There was nothing we could do about their deaths." he said wiping away a stray tear from my cheek. I nodded into his hand ad he kissed my forehead for a long moment.

"Are you really okay with me being from Twelve?" I asked him randomly and he sighed, pulling away to look me in the eye.

"Of course I am. I kind of love the fact you're from Twelve. You don't hold the same views and beliefs as the Capitol. You're more down to earth and real." he explained and I still didn't quite believe him. When he saw the look on my face he thought for a moment before continuing. "Look it doesn't matter where you're from. Does me being from Two change your feelings about me?" he asked.

"No." I replied and he nodded.

"Exactly. Even if you never came to the Academy, I still think I would have met you in some way. You caught my attention when I first saw you. If I won and saw you on my tour, I would have tried to meet you, get to know you, and see you after I went home."

"You really believe that?"

"Hell yeah I do. I don't care about how you grew up or where you came from. I love you for you. Nothing is going to change that." he said and it brought tears to my eyes, nobody has ever said anything like that to me. He brought his thumb up and wiped a tear away.

"I love you." I whispered, pressing my forehead to his. But he took it a step farther and pressed his lips to mine.

"Come on, we should try to get some sleep." Cato said once he pulled away, standing up with me in his arms. He carried me off to my room, not wanting to leave me alone at night. We settled into bed and he pulled me to his chest and held me close, whispering into my ear as I fell asleep.

"I love you too."


	10. Will They Like Me?

~Cato~

I held Katniss to me that night as we slept. It felt good to have her in my arms, knowing that nothing is going to kill us in our sleep. I tucked us into bed and she cuddled into my chest and rested her head on the pillow as I put my arms around her protectively. I had discarded my shirt after I laid her down on the bed. I've always slept without a shirt. She fell asleep almost immediately after I whispered in her ear, but it took me a few minutes to let the sleep overcome me. But it didn't last long. I awoke to her screaming and thrashing against me. Calling for me and for help. I shook her shoulders gently to wake her up and when she did she had a frightened look in her eyes. Until she realized I was there and she was okay.

"It was just a nightmare. You're okay." I said soothingly to her and she wrapped her arms around my bare chest sobbing into me. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her softly.

"It was in the Games." she whimpered. "At the Feast and Marvel was trying to kill me, and you didn't come. He had me on the ground with a knife raised above him and he was about to kill me when you woke me up. Instead of seeing him, I saw you." she said to me, her sobs breaking up her voice and words.

"I'll always be here for you. I'll always save you." I said to her and after she calmed down I laid back down taking her with me and we fell back asleep. Neither one of us woke up again after that until the next morning. I guess we can help each other keep the nightmares away. The next morning a shrill voice came through the door, taking us from the comfort of sleep.

"Wake up! It's time to get ready to go ho- What on earth is this!" Effie shrieked as she stood in the doorway.

"It's us sleeping Effie what does it look like?" Katniss snapped sarcastically.

"Why is that boy in your bed?" she demanded angrily.

"Sleeping, keeping the nightmares away, giving me comfort, take you pick." my Girl on Fire burned back.

"Well he needs to keep to his own bed." Effie said pointing her Capitol manicured finger at me.

"No." Katniss said firmly.

"Excuse me?"

"No." I said myself. "I'm not going to leave her to sleep with nightmares every night. I keep her's away and she keeps mine away. You can't make me stay away from her anyway." I said with a glare on my face. She huffed and stomped her foot in frustration.

"Fine. Now hurry up we have a schedule to keep." she said angrily before turning to walk out the door, slamming the door behind her. Katniss sighed and crawled out of my embrace to get dressed.

"Come on, five more minutes." I said taking hold of her hand and pulling her back to the bed. She laughed and pulled away from me again.

"No we have to get up. If we don't she'll come back with a bucket of cold water." Katniss said. "Come on get up and get ready. You need a shower and so do I so get up." she said going through her closet. When she turned back to me she saw me still sitting on her bed. "Get up!" she said laughing and I chuckled doing as she said.

"I'll see you in a bit." I said kissing her forehead before walking out of her room to mine and taking a shower. When the two of us were done getting ready I was wearing black dress pants, shoes, and black jacket with a yellow button up shirt. Katniss walked out in a pale pink dress with short sleeves, a ribbon around her waist, and a few ruffles here and there. Plus she was wearing some shoes that matched her dress.

"Ready to go?" I asked her and she nodded but still seemed sad.

"Good now let's get going. The train won't wait forever." Effie said cheerfully as Brutus and Haymitch groaned. We all rode down in the elevator together and got into cars that will take us to the train station. Katniss and I sat in a car together as our Mentors and Effie sat in the other car.

"Katniss what's wrong?" I asked her holding her hand.

"I don't know if I can do this." she said looking out the window.

"Do what?" I asked her, I hope she didn't mean us. I know it all happened fast but I hope she doesn't want to end us.

"Going to the different Districts and seeing the families of the fallen Tributes. They'll hate us no doubt but their children had to die for us to live." she said sadly. I reached over and turned her face with my fingers to make her look at me.

"Remember what we talked about last night?" I asked her and she nodded. "We didn't want to kill them, it wasn't our choice. The Capitol made us do it. Just remember that if their parents were in our position they would have done the same. Because they would've wanted to live as well." I told her and she nodded.

"Yeah I know but i-" she started but I stopped her.

"No buts. It was all the Capitol and if anybody tries to hurt you they'll have to go through me." I said to her with a serious tone in my voice. She reached up and held the hand that was holding her face and nodded.

"Okay." she said and I sighed, pulling her to me.

"Okay. I promise I won't let anything happen to you or let anyone do anything to you." I promise her.

"Thank you." she whispered to me.

"Anything for you. So are you ready to see my family again?" I asked her trying to lighten the mood and she chuckled.

"I've met everybody but your father." she said pulling away slightly to look up at me. I smiled down at her.

"Well Sessa has gotten bigger since you've last seen her. My mom and Selima kept asking when they were going to see you again. Citch want's to see you again too. And my dad wants to meet you as well." I told her and she tensed up slightly.

"What if they don't like who I am now that they know?" she asked me sounding nervous. "They know about me now. My name, where I'm from, what are they going to think?"

"They liked you when they knew nothing about you. I doubt that being from Twelve will change any of it." I said to her, trying to calm her nerves.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive." I promised. She smiled softly at me and I leaned down to her as she leaned up to meet me half way. Our lips were about to touch when the car stopped and the door was opened to reveal Brutus.

"No, no time for that. You can do that on the train. Let's go." Brutus said taking Katniss's hand and gently pulling her out of the car. I could tell by how gentle he was with her that he still sees her like his Trainee, but not as much. He has grown attached to her which isn't surprising. When Brutus grows attached, he treats any of the Trainees like his own kids. He's done that for me countless times. When ever my brother and I got in a fight, or my dad and I, he would let me vent to him if I was working myself too hard. We boarded the train and didn't even look in awe as we looked around. It was the same train we use on the last Victory Tour, the one where the two of us tagged along.

"We'll be in District one by tonight and the speech is tomorrow morning. Because there are two of you we won't be doing the normal schedule" Effie told us and we just look at her confused.

"What are you talking about?" Katniss asked, her scowl on her face.

"Well people are more eager to see you, the first pair of tributes to win the Games. So by order of the Capitol we have to provide instant gratification. So we start the Victory Tour tonight." Effie explains before she went to get something to eat from the dining car. Katniss nodded and walked into her room. I decided to leave her alone for a little bit, she needed time alone. She's taking this a lot harder than I am.

"Is she okay?" Brutus asked.

"She's taking this hard. I don't think she's ready for this tour yet." I said to him.

"No surprise." Haymitch said from across the room.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"She's from Twelve. We don't take death very well. When her dad died she was a wreck, nearly died if it weren't for Peeta. But now that Peeta has died, she probably feels lost. Peeta gave her hope when she was a kid to keep surviving. Now that she lost him, she might have lost hope. Even though she has you and her mom, sister, and two other friends she still lost somebody. Plus Peeta was very well liked back in Twelve, the good baker's son, it wouldn't surprise me if people blamed her for his death." he said.

"But it wasn't her fault! It was Marvel's, if he wasn't there she would've made it back to him in time. They shouldn't blame her and she shouldn't be blaming herself." I told him angrily.

"Make sure she knows that and make sure that they know that. District Twelve usually hates the Victors but since she is from there they might be more forgiving. But because Peeta had to die for her to come back who knows! A lot of people liked Peeta more than they liked her." Haymitch said.

"But there was nothing she could do and she tried! They should've seen it during the interviews and in the Games that she tried."

"I know. But not everybody thinks the same way." Haymitch said finally before leaving the current car to I'm guessing the bar car. I ran a hand through my hair and went to Katniss's room. When I arrived I saw her laying in her bed with a pillow on her arms.

"Katniss?" I called to her and she looked at me.

"He's right. They liked him more than me, they'll hate that I came back and not him." she said and I walked to the bed and sat next to her, pulling her up and into my arms.

"Hey hey hey, don't think about that right now. Let's just take time to relax before tomorrow. Okay?" I offered and she nodded after a moment. I laid us back down and she rested her head on my chest. "Everything will be alright. Lets just lay here and act like the rest of the world doesn't exist, that it's just the two of us." I said and she gave out a sigh that was mixed with content and relief. Her stiff muscles started to relax as I stroked her hair.

"I wish we could stay like this, here in this bed and nothing to come and bother us. Just a peaceful silence." she said and she snuggled into me. I looked at her and lifted her chin so she could look at me.

"After all of this is over I promise I will make that happen." I said to her and I could see the hope in her eyes. I cupped her cheek and pulled her face to mine, intending to finished what was going to start in the car. I kissed her again and it was just as good as the last. Her lips were soft and full, she was a little hesitant but she kissed me back softly and I smiled into the kissed. After a few moments I pulled away to regain my breath and I looked into her eyes.

"Was that okay? You seemed a little nervous." I said to her and she huffed out a chuckle.

"You're the only boy I've ever kissed." she said sheepishly. I was her first then. And her only.

"Not even Peeta?" I asked her with a little jealousy in my voice.

"Not even." she said with a blush creeping onto her cheeks. I kissed the corner of her mouth and her blush deepened.

"Well I hope I'm the only one you'll ever be able to kiss." I said to her and she giggled. She reached her hands up and pulled my face down to hers in another sweet kissed that lasted longer than our previous. After a few moments I ran my tongue along her bottom lip, we haven't done this yet, so she surprised me when she opened up to me. This is the first time I've been able to taste her like this. She tasted just like she smells. She still smells like the woods but there is a sweeter taste to her. But I can't place it. Most people would describe a kiss like this as their tongues fighting for dominance, but not this kiss. They danced together, because we were done fighting and we didn't need to fight on this level. We broke apart a few moments later we broke apart for the need to breathe and I saw a smile on Katniss's face and she chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked her a little confused.

"I was just thinking of how far we've come. Two years ago we hated each other and now look at us." she said reaching for my hand. I intertwined our finger and brought them up to my lips and kissed the back of her hand.

"I always knew there was something about you but I didn't know what it was. I hated you for it because I didn't know what you were doing to me. But then I began to realize what it was and I was starting to act on it, but then we would get in a fight and it would seem like we didn't feel the same way about each other. I don't know how Luna figured out that I liked you way before I did." I admitted and she chuckled.

"Well you asking me to dance at the first Feast was a big give away to her." she said and it made me think of the conversation the two of them had about me after we danced.

"Would you hate me if I said I heard the conversation you two had after our dance?" I asked her and she went silent and her smile fell from her face. No, please don't get mad this isn't what I want to happen.

"How much did you hear?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"That you didn't want to have kids or get married." I said nervously, we had to talk about this sometime. Knowing Snow he'll force us to do it, but will it be when we're only sixteen? I wouldn't put it passed him.

"Oh, that." she said sitting up and pulling away from me. No don't do this, I thought. I sat up to and tried to look her in the eye but when she refused I raised my hand to make her look at me.

"I understand why you don't. So your kids won't have to go through what you went through. And you don't want to get married so there won't be a chance of you having kids. I understand that. I don't want my children going through the Reapings and the Hunger Games either. But Katniss I don't know if we can avoid it now." I said to her honestly. Doesn't she understand that because we won together that we might be forced to get married and have a kid? Maybe Snow will show us mercy and not put the child up for Reaping, with parents from different Districts I don't know how that would work. But knowing President Snow he'll find a way.

"I know we can't avoid it but Cato I'm not ready. We're only sixteen! I don't even know where I'm going to live. Am I moving to Two with you? Are you moving to Twelve with me? Or will Snow keep us in the Capitol?" she rambled.

"Where ever you go I go. If he splits us up I don't care I will follow you to District Twelve." I said to her seriously.

"But what if he threatens to kill your family? Will you still come?"

"I don't know." I honestly hadn't thought about that. I could tell Katniss didn't really like that answer because her shoulders slumped down slightly. "But my dad owns the biggest Masonry in the District and it's the best. If my dad dies my brother is the next in line to take over. After him it's me. If he kills my family I'll have to take over which means I can't be a Mentor in the Games." I explained to her and it's all true. My dad said that if he died the family business is left to my brother and I.

"But he can hurt my family. My family is nothing important in Twelve. Sure my mom is a healer but it doesn't matter the Capitol doesn't care about my District. If my District loses my mom, the only healer in the District the Capitol isn't going to care." she told me. It's sad to think that the Capitol doesn't care that much.

"But with out your District there would be no coal." I said trying to make her feel more important and that her District is more important.

"Coal is the only thing the Capitol cares about from Twelve." she said angrily but sadly looking away from me. I rested my forehead on her temple to whisper in her ear.

"I care about you." I said and she turned to look at me.

"Promise?" she asked to clarify but she shouldn't need to.

"Promise, always." I said and there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come on out you two we are in District One!" Effie said cheerfully. We groaned and got off the bed and walked out into the living room.

"You okay?" Haymitch asked Katniss as soon as he saw her. He seemed very attached to her as well. He probably kept an eye on Katniss when she was home. Like when he called Brutus that one day in the Academy just before the Reapings, when she was whipped.

"I'm fine." she said trying to sound confident. I walked up and held her hand casting a smile down at her while she squeezed my hand.

"Well let's go over the schedule for tomorrow shall we?" Effie said taking a seat on the couch and ushering people over to sit down as well. Effie started to go over what we needed to do, did she forget that Katniss and I have been through this before?

"Effie we already know what to do." Katniss snapped as Effie talked like we were children.

"What?" she asked confused.

"They went on the Victory tour last year as part of their training." Brutus reminded.

"Oh yes, silly me I completely forgot." Effie said chuckling to herself. "Well then since you know what to do, we should all get to bed so you can be fresh and ready for your stylists tomorrow before the speeches." she said waving us off. Katniss bolted from the seat and went back to her room shutting it tightly behind her. Haymitch and Brutus looked at me confused and I shook my head at them.

"What's wrong with her now?" Brutus asked.

"We were talking about what Snow could do to us. Make us get married and have kids and stuff. She's freaked by it because neither of us are ready for it. Plus she's worried about her family and what he can do to them." I explained to them. Haymitch nodded in understanding, deep in thought about something but Brutus just looked a little confused.

"Can't she go a day without constant worry?" he asked and Haymitch scoffed.

"She's gone through her entire life doing nothing but worrying. Worrying about her sister, her mother, her friends, surviving, and getting caught by the wrong Peacekeeper when she hunted. Which she eventually did get caught, as you two very well know." Haymitch growled to us. He's right, she has been worrying all her life.

"So then how do I get her to stop worrying?" I asked him and he sighed.

"Hopefully after this tour she won't be doing so much worrying. Her family will have food and a nice place to live. She won't have to hunt but probably still will. The only thing she'll have to worry about is Snow."

"But still she's gonna worry." I reminded.

"Well there is one thing to get her to stop worrying." Brutus said with a smirk, letting his hint float in the air.

"She doesn't want kids Brutus, at least not now so don't even suggest that." Haymitch glared at him.

"Just take some of the worry for her. Let her know that you're worried about it too. Maybe it'll get her to calm down. But what she really needs is to know how to not let it get to her. Neither of us are in the clear yet either." Haymitch said gesturing between him and Brutus. "But we get so busy with the Games and mentoring that we practically don't have time to worry." he finished.

"Okay." I said before getting up to go to bed.

"Where are you going?" they asked.

"Bed, like Effie said I have to be presentable tomorrow." I said before walking into my own room. I don't want to leave Katniss alone but I think she needs it for tonight. I think she just needs time alone to her thoughts. A few minutes later I fell asleep on my bed to be woken up a few hours later from a nightmare to screams coming from Katniss' room. I shot out of my bed and went into her room to see her tangled up in her sheets. She was thrashing around like she was trying to get out of them but couldn't. Must be a nightmare. Like people are trying to grab her and hold her down and she was fighting to get out of her grip. I went to her bed and ripped the sheets off of her and she started to calm down. But seconds later she was thrashing around again.

"Katniss." I said trying to wake her up as I pinned her shoulders down. Her arm shot up and hit me in the face. I groaned but kept my hold on her. "Katniss!" I shouted again and she woke up. Her eyes flew open with a scared look in them. Instantly she calmed down when she saw it was me. She lifted her hand and it caressed my cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked sounding concerned.

"You're asking me that? You were having a nightmare." I said to her chuckling slightly at her concern for me.

"But your cheek, it looks like it's bruised." she said and I touched my cheek.

"Yeah you kinda hit me when I tried to wake you up." I said sheepishly and she sat up quickly.

"I'm so sorry about that."

"It's okay you were dreaming. What was it about?" I asked her and she sighed.

"I don't really want to talk about it." she said and I cupped her cheek.

"It might make you feel better." I told her and she nodded.

"I was back in the Games. And it was the two of us plus Clove against the rest of the Careers, and a few other Tributes, like Thresh and Foxface and a couple others. They killed you and Clove and I was alone, they pinned me down as Marvel-" she said but her breath caught and voice cracked.

"What? What did he do?" I asked eagerly.

"He started to rape me," she finished and my hands clenched into fists, my knuckles turning white. "But you woke me up before he could do anything bad." she reassured and I unclenched my fists. I raised my hand and held her cheek, pulling her face close to mine so I could rest my forehead against her's.

"I would never let anything like that happen to you." I vowed to her. She tilted her head and lightly pressed her lips to mine, just ever so lightly. She pulled away and looked in my eyes.

"Will you stay with me tonight? I don't want anymore nightmares."

"Me either." I whispered and she laid down. I moved around the bed and got under the covers next to her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her back to my chest, spooning her. She fell asleep within minutes after I settled myself next to her. I watched her sleep for a while, wondering what her family is going to think of me.

Will they like me? Probably not. Will they be happy that Katniss has found somebody who cares about her as much as I do? Hopefully, but they'll probably wish it was somebody else instead of me. Am I going to prove myself to them? Hell yes I will. But the most I can do now is to just meet them. I know my family has met her, but I hope that when they meet her officially, they'll accept who she is. I know my mom, Citch, Selima, and Sessa will, but I don't know about my dad. Sure he didn't want me to train, but he still has his views of the lower Districts. Right now all I can do is hope for the best and hope that tomorrow in One goes without a hitch, but no promises since I delivered the final fatal blow to Marvel and Katniss killed Glimmer without hesitation. In all my musing I fell asleep with my nose buried in Katniss' brown curls that splayed out on her pillow, breathing in the scent of the forest that lingered on her.


	11. Love Daddy

~Katniss~

I was nervous, no beyond nervous for today. We were in District One and Cato and I killed both of their Tributes. They would hate us. But they would hate me the most, because me, from District Twelve the lowest District killed Glimmer. And Cato killed Marvel because of me, so I could live, to save me. But right now I stood with Cinna in my room as he and my prep team helped me get ready and be presentable. I sat on a stool while Octavia had just finished applying make up to my eyes.

"There, perfect." she said with a clap of her hands an walked out by Cinna's orders.

"Are you ready for your dress?" he asked and I just shrugged.

"As I'll ever be." I said.

"Close your eyes." he said gently and I did so, biting my lip slightly as well. I felt the light and feathery fabric fall onto my body. I lifted my arms up through the sleeves as Cinna instructed. "I'm going to walk you to a mirror okay?" he asked and I nodded, still biting my lip. "Stop biting your lip Katniss." he said chuckling. "Octavia will have your head if she sees your lips and thinks it's ruined. Now open." he finished. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw a dark navy blue dress, floor length but from mid-thigh and down the fabric became sheer and was covered in blue feathers the same shade as the rest of the dress, but with white feathers to lighten it. On the fabric above the feathers the cloth was glittery and the collar went straight across my collar bone. I turned to see the back and saw it exposed, an open back showing off my scars.

"Are you sure?" I asked him looking at my scars that went across my back in every which way.

"It shows that you've had it rough, that you are more than a pretty face."

"And the feathers?" I asked as I ran my hands over them.

"Just something to fit the District of Luxury. Don't worry when you get back on the train you can rip the thing off and never see it again." he said with a wave of his hand trying to make me laugh. And it worked. I hugged him and thanked him for the dress before he helped me into my shoes and walked me out to meet everybody else. Effie and Haymitch were there but not Brutus and Cato.

"Where's Cato and Brutus?" I asked them.

"Brutus is finishing up with Cato, they had to talk about something." Haymitch said taking a sip of his drink just as Cato and Brutus walked out. Cato wore black pants and jacket with a shirt the same color of my dress and a white tie to match the feathers in my dress. I turned just as he walked out and he caught a glimpse of my back. He stopped in his tracks when he saw me.

"Hey." he said to me lamely, obviously he was a little nervous, but about what I don't know. He walked over to me and gave me a hug, running his hands up and down my back. "Are you sure about your scars?" he asked pulling away from me. I was about to answer but Cinna did for me, telling Cato the same thing he told me.

"It shows that she's more than a pretty face. That even somebody with that much fire can be hurt too." he explained and I nodded in agreement.

"Well you look great either way." Cato said, putting his eyes back on me.

"Yes yes you both look great but we are on a schedule and have to go." Effie said as she ushered us off of the train. Cato grasped my small hand in his big one and brought it to his lips, kissing it lightly. When we got into the car to take us to the Town Square I rested my head on Cato's shoulder.

"You can do this." he encouraged and I did my best to nod. "And afterward we can go back to the train and relax." he reminded kissing the top of my head. My hair was in pristine curls and my make-up was done dramatically to match my dress.

"I can't wait to get out of this dress." I grumbled fingering the feathers with the hand that wasn't holding Cato's.

"Itchy?" he asked.

"No I just feel exposed is all. I've never shown off my scars like this before. I've always hid them." I said to him. He squeezed my hand a little tighter and sighed.

"Well maybe it's time to show Panem the real you. Not the Girl On Fire, just Katniss." he said trying to encourage me.

"And if they don't like just Katniss?" I asked him.

"What does it matter? The Capitol loves you, I love you, and your family and friends love you. That's what matters." he told me and I gave a weak smile. My friends, what will they think now that Peeta isn't here anymore?

"I have a feeling my friends are going to be a little less loving when I return."

"Because Peeta's gone?"

"Yeah. I don't know how they are going to treat me." I admitted.

"But you tried. You tried to get to him in time and you tried to help him. That should count for something." he reassured.

"I know but I just can't help but feel scared." I told him, as he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it.

"I'll be there for you when we get to Twelve. I'll be by your side." he whispered to me. I was about to say something again but the car stopped and Effie was quick to open our doors and get us out onto the stage. Cato and I sat in chairs next to each other as the mayor of the District made his speech. Then it was our turn.

Cato held my hand through both of ours, and when I gave my scripted speech he squeezed my hand, letting me know that he was there for me. As I looked at the crowd every once in a while from my script, I saw half of the male population glaring at me, and even some of the girls. The boys must have known Glimmer _well_. And the girls, I don't know why they were glaring at me. I looked around trying to find Glimmer's and Marvel's family. Soon I found a man who looked like Marvel with a woman next to him, and a little girl clutching onto her. Must be his parents and sister. The little girl looked only a couple years old, maybe two. I felt a tug on my heart at that thought, a little girl lost her brother, her parents looked angry at me while the little girl just cried.

Next I found Glimmer's family. A woman with the same blonde hair and a boy standing next to her who looked just like Glimmer, they must have been twins. There was no sign of a father. Was he alive or did he leave the family? Or was he just back home, not wanting to be here? Whatever the reason I'm almost happy that I don't have to talk to their families, they would hate me and I would cry for their loss. Finally I was done with my speech and we were able to get back on the train, thank God. The first thing I did was storm to my room with Cato hot on my heels.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just wish I hadn't gone into the Games. Seeing who I think is Marvel's sister crying it made me think of Prim." I said to him as I kicked my shoes off and tried to get my dress off. Cato came up behind me and helped me out of it. Thank God Cinna had me put on a slip otherwise I would be nervous of Cato seeing me in my underwear. But this isn't much better. Once I had it off I quickly put on a robe and helped him with his tie.

"That wasn't his sister." he said hesitantly.

"Who was it?" I asked him, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"That was his daughter." he said in a soft voice. I took a step back from him in shock.

"What?" I asked on the brink of tears.

"He got a girl pregnant a few years ago. She gave birth to her and left her on his doorstep. He's been taking care of her ever since. He loved that little girl." Cato said, a tone of sadness in his voice.

"You mean that we killed-" but I couldn't finish, my body was taking over with sobs. We killed the father of that littler girl. Her mother didn't want her and her father had died in the Games.

"No, I was the one that killed him. I should be the one to feel guilty and I do. As soon as I did it I thought of that girl. It's my fault she has to grow up without her father.

"But he died because of me. He was killed because you wanted to save me." I said to him and he was silent. He just held me as I cried. My tears soaked his shirt as I sobbed into his chest. When I calmed down enough to talk again I asked a question that bothered me as I sobbed. "What is her name?" I asked him, my voice shaking.

"I think he said her name was Pamela."

"He wanted to win the Game for her, to get back to her didn't he? He volunteered for her didn't he?" I asked him and he nodded slowly.

"There has to be something we can do for her. There has to be." I pleaded to him ad he sighed.

"There is." he said as he took a locket out of his pocket. "He gave this to me to give to her. She turned four while we were in the Arena. He knew that he wouldn't get out of there but still tried." he said sadly. I pressed my palm to his cheek and made him look at me.

"How about we get changed and go take it to her. If we can't do anything else we have to do this." I told him and he kissed my forehead.

"Okay." he agreed and I went back to getting his tie off as he took off his jacket. He had gone back to his room to finish getting changed and I slipped on a long sleeve forest green shirt with a scoop neck and some dark brown pants with brown shoes. I left my hair that way it is but washed the make up off my face. I wanted to be somewhat normal looking again. When I was done I walked out and found Cato wearing black pants, shirt, and shoes waiting for me. He had the necklace in his hand looking down at it.

"Ready?" I asked him and he slowly nodded. He showed me the opened locket and I saw the picture of Marvel and Pamela and the inscription on the other side.

_I love you Lala_

_~Daddy_

The sight brought a tear to my eye as I saw them smiling in the picture. Cato wiped the tear from my eyes before pulling me into a hug. He wrapped his arms around my waist as mine went around his shoulders. I had to calm down, or I would never be able to leave this train. I pulled away after a few moments and looked up at him.

"What if they don't accept it?" I asked him.

"They'll have to, it's from Marvel." he said, taking my hand and gently pulling me out of the train. We found a Peacekeeper who was able to take us to Marvel's old home where his parents and daughter still lived. It was a nice house, two stories, painted a light shade of yellow, and shudders on every window. Together we walked up the steps to the door and knocked on it. A moment later his mother opened the door, glaring at us.

"What do you want?" she asked with venom in her voice. "Come to kill off the rest of the family?" she asked bitterly.

"No, we have something from Marvel." Cato spoke out and her eyes softened.

"What is it?"

"It's for Pamela." I said softly, hoping she would trust us even in the slightest bit. She opened the door a little more and looked at us.

"The locket?" she questioned and we nodded. She opened the door all the way and let us in. There in the living room we saw Pamela holding a teddy bear with tears falling down her cheeks.

"Pamela?" Marvel's mom said catching the little girl's attention. When she saw us a glare formed on her little face.

"What are they doing here?" she asked angrily, I winced at her tone, no child that small should feel such anger.

"They have something from Daddy for you." her grandmother said and the Pamela perked up.

"What is it?" she asked standing up and walking over to us, curiousness evident in her eyes. I knelt down in front of her.

"It's a gift from him for your birthday. You're four now right?" I asked her, trying to get her to talk more.

"Yeah, I turned four during the Games." she said sadly but a little proudly. I felt Cato kneel down next to me and looked at her.

"Well your Daddy gave me something to give to you." he said holding out the locket for her. Gently, she took it from his hand and held it up.

"The necklace." she said with some shock in her eyes.

"You've seen this before?" I asked her, hoping she would open up.

"We was walking in the Town Square one day after school. I saw it in a window and showed it to him, I thought it was pretty and I liked it." she said examining the locket closely.

"Why don't you look inside." Cato suggested and she nodded. As she opened it her grandmother came behind her to see what was in it. When the little girl saw the inscription tears started to fall down her little cheeks. What she did next surprised me, I never thought she would do it.

"Will you put it on me?" she asked me, surprised, I nodded as she handed it back to me and turned around, lifting her soft curls up so I could clasp it around her neck. When it was on her she turned around and hugged both of us. I glanced at Cato and he was as surprised as I was. I wrapped an arm around her as she continued to hug us. She pulled away and went back to her bear. Marvel's mom looked at us with gratitude.

"Thank you for doing that for her." she said to us looking back at the lonely girl.

"It was no problem. I can't tell you how sorry we are for everything." Cato said to her.

"As much as I want him back here, I understand why you did it. You two love each other. I just wish her mother loved him as much as he loved her. Then maybe he wouldn't have gone in." She told us. It surprised me even more that she wasn't mad anymore.

"If there is anything you need, for Pamela or yourself, don't hesitate to let us know." I told her and she nodded.

"Thank you. Now you should go, get back to your sister." she said. As we walked out the door I took one last glance at the two of them and I saw the girl looking in awe at the piece of jewelry around her neck. Once we were out the door and on our way back to the train I finally spoke up again.

"We did good right?" I asked looking up at Cato. He looked at me and gave me a smile.

"Yeah we did good." he said before pulling me to him and kissing me on my lips. Together we walked back to the train with his arm around my shoulder, keeping me close. The walk back to the train was silent, but it was comfortable. His hand would rub up and down my arm every now and then as we walked, and when he did I would lean my head against his shoulder. When we got back to the train it was nearly dark and Effie was furious.

"Now just where the hell were you two?" she shrilled in her Capitol accent. "Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out this late at night?" she questioned.

"Effie not now." I warned hoping she would back off. Where was Haymitch and Brutus when I need them? Probably getting drunk in the bar car.

"Not now? I will keep pestering you until you tell me where you were without telling anybody." she shouted. I glared at her and felt Cato clasp his hand around mine, telling me to calm down a little. And I did, but I was still mad.

"We just gave a gift to the daughter of a dead Tribute. Is that what you wanted to hear? We just made a child slightly more happy even though she has to grow up without a father. And the worst part of it is that I can relate. I grew up without a father, her mother isn't around and mine hardly ever was for a while until she checked back into reality!" I shouted at her. Her glare softened and Cato wrapped an arm around my waist, trying to lead me to our room. "So next time you want to know where we were, be a little nicer about it." I hissed before letting Cato tug me away. When we got to our room I sighed, knowing I just blew that out of proportion.

"Are you okay?" he asked me once I had settled down.

"I need to apologize to her. I was harsh." I admitted, running a hand through my hair.

"Later." he said, taking my hand from my hair and holding it in his lap. "But for now let's get some rest, it's been a long day." he said as he leaned down, bringing me with him so I was half on his chest.

"What happened to the arrogant and cocky Cato I met at the Academy?" I asked him. I had to admit I was curious, what had made him care for me so much.

"He fell in love with a fiery spirit and knew there was no going back." he said into my hair, kissing it lightly. "I fought it for so long, but I always sort of knew that I had these feelings. I just didn't want to admit it."

"So what changed? What made you want to finally come to grips with it?" I asked him softly.

"When I saw you at the parade. I didn't watch your Reaping, I didn't think I needed to. I thought that because you came to the Academy that you were from a higher District and just didn't volunteer. Clove called you Katniss and not Spitfire so I didn't know it was you. Not until the parade when I saw you up on the screens and on fire. I knew that I couldn't deny those feelings anymore, because after the Games, I wouldn't have the chance to tell you."

"But then there was the rule change." I continued.

"Our blessing in disguise." he commented. "I don't know what I would've done without you. If you had died before the Games ended, I think I would've killed myself."

"I'm glad you didn't." I said resting my hand on his chest as it rose and fell with his every breath.

"I'm glad you didn't die." he said finally. He placed his hands on my hips and turned me so I was face to face with him. "I love you." he whispered, looking deep into my eyes before placing a delicate kiss on my lips. I returned the kiss and he pulled away after a few seconds.

"I love you too." I whispered in return. A grin graced his lips and kissed my forehead.

"We should get some sleep." he said and I nodded. He shifted so he could get the blankets out from under him so he could cover us with them. I shifted to I lay next to him and he pulled me tight to his chest. I could hear the sound of his heartbeat and his breathing and I could swear he could hear mine. But it didn't matter, we just fell asleep even though it was in our clothes.


	12. Welcome to the Family

~Katniss~

Going back to District Two was almost unbearable. I would officially meet Cato's family, as Katniss Everdeen and not as Spitfire, and I will meet Clove's family for the first time, only to say how sorry I am that their daughter isn't with them now. Everybody will probably love that Cato is back. And those who remember me from the Academy, well who knows. I didn't train with them, so the Trainees from here do not know me. The Mayor of District Two gave his speech, introducing Cato and I. Cato went first, since it was his home, then I stood up and gave my speech.

As they looked up at me I grew nervous, people either glared at me and they gave me smiles. And I could tell the difference of who gave what. Those who followed the Capitol like dogs gave me smiles, loving the fact that Cato and I have a romance. But then there are those who still think District Twelve, my home, is nothing but scum. Cato could tell that I was nervous, so when he took my hand and rubbed circles on the top of my hand with his thumb, I started to calm down. Finally I finished my speech and we both took our seat and waited until it was time for us to take our leave. About half an hour later, the Mayor let us leave while the crowd clapped and cheered.

"Cato I don't think I can do this." I told him once we got back onto the train. "Your family only knows me as Spitfire and I'm not her anymore. And I don't think I can face Clove's family. Let alone go out in public and wait to see if everybody will actually hurt me, judging by the looks they gave me." I babbled as I unzipped my steel gray, thin strapped, floor length, dress. This time I was in just a bra and underwear, but I didn't really care at the moment. I was too nervous. I grabbed a robe and tugged it on before I felt Cato's hands on my shoulders.

"Everything will be okay. My family loved you before and they'll love you now. And Clove's family will understand, Clove fought for us. And as for everybody else, they'll have to go through me to hurt you." he said seriously as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. I leaned my head back against his chest and took a deep breath, inhaling his scent. He turned me around to face him and looked me in the eye. "I'll be here to protect you if you ever need it." he said cupping my face with his hands.

"Thank you. Well I guess we better get changed, it's now or never." I said solemnly. I watched as he turned and walked out of the room to his own so he could change into better clothing, shutting the door behind him. Sighing, I went to my closet and looked for something to wear. I pulled out a light blue blouse about the same color as Cato's eyes that had sequins on it, a nice pair of black pants, and some black flats. My make-up was minimal, knowing Cinna he probably made sure it was minimal because I would meet Cato's family again today, so I left it on. My hair was down in it's natural curls again thanks to Cinna. I stepped out of my room to find Cato in the living room wearing a gray button down shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a pair of black dress pants, and black shoes. When he saw what I was wearing he chuckled.

"What?" I asked him.

"We're both wearing clothes that match the others eyes. I'm wearing gray and you're wearing blue." I looked at both of our clothing and realized it was true. I smiled lightly and took his outstretched hand.

"Come on, time to go." he said and and I followed him out of the train. The walk to his parents house was quiet mostly on my part. Cato would point out different things to me like where he would hang out or walk around. Finally we came up to his house and it looked like the ones in the Victors Village of Twelve, I wonder the that houses look like here. We paused in front of the house and he held my hands. "Are you ready for this?" he asked, looking deep into my eyes.

"I think so. Cato what if they don't like me anymore?" I asked him and he gave me a soft smile.

"Like I said before, they liked you when they knew nothing about you. I doubt being from Twelve will change anything." he said and I nodded, telling him that he can open the door. The door swung open as we stepped inside, nobody was around. "Hello? Mom? Citch?" he called out and soon I heard steps coming down the stairs. His mother was the first to appear then Citch and finally Selima holding Sessa. He was right, she has gotten bigger.

"Cato! I'm so happy you're home." His mother said coming to hug him. Selima set Sessa on the floor and the little girl stood holding her mom's fingers. When Cato's mom was done hugging him she turned to me.

"I had a feeling you were from Twelve." she said with a straight face. My nerves only grew more. What if Cato was wrong? What if they don't like me. "But it doesn't matter." she said smiling then hugging me. She pulled away and rested her hands on my shoulders. "You make my son happy, and I thank you for that." she said and I gave her a curious look.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you know I was from Twelve?" I asked and she smiled at me.

"You have the characteristics of somebody from Twelve. You skin tone and hair give you away." she says.

"More like from the Seam." I mutter and she give me a confused look. "The part of Twelve I'm from." I clarify and she nods.

"Well it doesn't matter where you're from, as long as you make my son happy, then I'm happy." she concludes, stepping aside so Citch could greet me next. He gave his brother a brotherly hug and smiled at me.

"It's about time he made a move on you." he said jokingly then pulled me in for a hug. "Welcome to the family." he said and Selima chuckled.

"They aren't married Citch." she reminded, walking Sessa over to Cato. He picked her up and she giggled happily. Selima kissed Cato on the cheek then walked over to hug me. When she pulled away Cato walked over to me with Sessa in his hands. She opened and closed her fists at me and he shifted her into my arms. Once I held the little girl she cuddled into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and resting her head on my shoulder.

"She really likes you." Citch said and I smiled.

"It's hard not to love her brother." Cato said wrapping an arm around me. I looked up at him and he gave me a small kiss on my cheek. I set Sessa down and she got on her hands and knees to crawl over to her mom. For the rest of the day we sat in the living room of their house and got to know each other. I talked to them about losing my dad and raising my sister, hunting in the woods, and so on.

"I remember the last Victory Tour I went on, Clove and I went on the woods and met some guy." Cato said and I stiffened next to him.

"Did he tell you his name?" I asked and they all looked at me confused.

"Yeah he said his name was Gale why?" he asked and I sighed in relief. He kept his promise.

"Thank god." I said.

"What?" Citch asked.

"Gale is another on of my best friends and my hunting partner. I met him after my dad died when I was hunting in the woods. When I was at the Academy I made him promise to not let my sister starve. He kept it." I explained to them and they nodded in understanding. Cato's mom was about to speak when the front door opened to reveal Cato's father. He was wearing a nice suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. He set it down by the door and didn't even realize that Cato and I were even sitting there until he turned towards us, finally looking up at us. When he noticed me sitting there, next to Cato whose arms were wrapped around me he got this smirk on his face, one that I have seen Cato wear many times. Now I know where he gets it. Slowly his father walked into the living room and Cato and I stood up to face him. He looked me up and down slowly and I suddenly grew nervous, what was he going to say? What is he thinking?

"So you're the famous Spitfire. Katniss Everdeen." he said sounding intimidating. Cato, sensing my nerves wrapped his hand around mine, which caught the attention of his father. "The Co-victor of my son who has managed to capture his heart." he spoke once again and I grew more and more nervous by the second. But it all went away as soon as he smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you." he said with an approving smile on his face. I sighed in relief and shook his outstretched hand.

"Goodness Casco you had this girl scared to death." Cato's mother, Claret, said standing up and wrapping her arm protectively around my shoulder.

"Yet she didn't back down at all." his father, Casco said.

"She never backed down from me and we made it through the Hunger Games. She's tough." Cato said giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I smiled at him and he kissed my hair.

"Maybe even tougher than you brother." Citch teased.

"You trying to say something Citch?" Cato challenged with a mocking face.

"Just saying that maybe you need to go back to training for a bit, you're losing your touch." Citch continued his teasing and soon enough the two brothers were wrestling around on the living room floor, but still being careful not to break anything. I watched the two of them while Cato's parents went into the kitchen and Selima took Sessa upstairs. It was starting to get late and we still had to stop by Clove's parents house before we left for District Three.

"Cato. Cato!" I shouted and he looked up from the headlock he had on his brother. "It's getting late and we need to go." I reminded and he look at the clock and got up immediately.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot." he said. We bid goodbye to his family before walking out of his house towards Clove's old house. "See it wasn't so bad meeting them again." he pointed out once we were outside his house.

"Yeah yeah you were right." I said smiling as he snaked his arm around my waist and mine around his. "Although I'm not sure if I'm ready for this though." I said as Cato lead me towards Clove's.

"I'm not ready for this either. But it's time you met them. You and I were Clove's best friends. I wish you didn't have to meet them like this." he said, his voice going from playful to soft. We were silent the rest of the walk and soon we came to a slightly more run down part of District Two. Soon we stood outside a small house that was painted gray and dark blue shudders on the windows. This house was only one floor and looked a little cozy. But it seemed like something Clove would have lived in. we stepped up to the door and Cato lifted his hand and knocked on it four times. A few seconds later a small woman, maybe a few inches shorter than me, with dark hair like Clove and the same eyes as well. Clove looked so much like her, must be her mother.

"Cato, Katniss." she said surprised to see us. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I think it's time that I finally meet you, I'm just so sorry for the circumstances." I said softly and she nodded, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"Come in. Come in." she said opening the door wider for us to step through. On the walls were pictures of Clove and who must be her little brother. There were even pictures of Clove and Cato as well. "It's nice to finally meet you Katniss. Clove, she talked about you a lot."

"She was a good friend to me here." I said softly.

"We miss her greatly, Proti especially." she sniffed.

"Where is the little guy?" Cato asked, speaking up for the first time since arriving.

"He's um in his room with his father." she said gesturing to the hallway behind her. She turned and led us down the hall to the first door on the left with his name on it. Across from his room was Clove's, her name was etched into the door from probably a knife. Her mom opened her son's door and we saw him and his father on the floor playing with different toys. "Honey, Cato and Katniss are here." she said and he looked up at us. Proti looked up at Cato, stood and wobbled over to him. I see what Clove meant by him being disabled, his legs were slightly disfigured making it a little hard for him to walk. When he reached the tall man next to me, Cato knelt down to the boys height and picked him up.

"Hey little guy."

"Hi Cato." the boy said and looked at me shyly.

"This is Katniss. Can you say hi?"

"Clove's friend?" Proti asked looking back at Cato who nodded. Proti looked back at me and waved. "Hi." he whispered.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you." I said with a little smile on my face. He had the same dark hair like Clove but his fathers hazel eyes.

"You were Clove's friend." he observed simply.

"She was one of Clove's best friends buddy." Cato said to him, holding the little boy close.

"I miss my sissy." he said starting to cry. He wrapped his arms around Cato's neck and buried his face in his shoulder.

"We miss her too Pro." Cato said hugging the boy, calling him by what I assume is his nickname. "If you guys ever need help with anything, please let us know." Cato said to Clove's mother and father.

"We promise." her mom said.

"It's getting late, you two should be getting back to the train." Clove's dad said, getting up from his spot on the floor and taking the crying boy from Cato's arms. Cato passed him over and wrapped an arm around me, needing the comfort. The three of them lead us out of the house and waved as we walked away from their door. As we walked it grew darker and darker as the sun got lower and lower in the sky. Cato still had his arm wrapped around me but it wasn't enough. With my hand that was closest to him I reached over and took his free hand in mine, he clasped his around it and rubbed his thumb over my palm. Tears were silently falling down my cheeks, why did I have to meet them this way? It wasn't fair to any of us. Eventually the tears became to much for me because I couldn't see where I was going anymore.

"Cato stop I-I can't." I said stumbling over to a nearby bench. I sat down and pressed my hands to my face as I sobbed into them. Cato's arms circled around me, holding me close as I sobbed. His body shook, telling me that he's crying as well. Street lights came on as it grew completely dark around us, a few people walked by but didn't pay attention to us crying teenagers. Cato stopped crying long before I did, maybe it was because I lost more in the Games than he did, Peeta, Clove, and Rue. It was all taking it's toll on me. I couldn't stop crying, so he picked me up, cradling me to his chest, an walked up back to the train, which wasn't too far away now. Once we were on the train he ignored people who questioned him and went straight to our room. He just set me down on the bed and held me as I cried, which soon turned to sniffles. When I was done he pulled my face up towards his to look my in the eyes. He ran his thumb across my cheeks, ridding my face of any tears left over.

"We're gonna get through this. We will." he said pressing his forehead to mine.

"You promise?" I asked sniffing again. He gave my nose a peck and looked my in the eyes again.

"I promise." I pulled him close, wrapping my arms around him in any way that I could, pressing my face into the crook of his neck where it meets his shoulders.

"I love you." I whispered. He snaked his arms around me and pressed me to him tightly.

"I love you too. We'll get through this together, I promise." he vowed, a few moments later he pulled away and looked at me. "In a few more days we'll be in District Five, the next few Districts should be easier, but when we get to Five you get to see Luna again." he said trying to cheer me up, and the thought of seeing another on of my best friends again did make me a little more happy.

"I miss her." I said quietly.

"I know." he said then kissed my head. "I know."

"I pray to any God that she doesn't get Reaped, or that I don't have to Mentor." I said bitterly and his chest rumbled slightly with a chuckle.

"Maybe President Snow will seek a little pity on us and not make us Mentors since we're the first couple surviving couple the Hunger Games has ever seen." he said and I snuggled closer to him.

"_President Snow_, if he doesn't make us Mentors he'll find some other way to use us." I said, saying his name like it was acid, and it tasted acidic when I said it.

"But it's not like he can kill us easily. The Capitol people love us too much." Cato said hopefully. He, like the rest of his District, almost have too much faith in the man who so poorly runs this country.

"He'll find a way to make it look like an accident." I reminded.

"We just have to please him, do as he says and hope." he said.

_Hope_

It seems like that's all it comes down to in the end. Back home it was hope that I don't get caught hunting. In the Games it was hope that I don't get killed. And now it's hope that nothing bad will happen to me and those that I love if I displease the President. What will he make us do? Be prostitutes? Sure the women of the Capitol will be willing to spend time with Cato. Will he turn us into an Avox? Or slaves? He'll think of something. And that's what scared me the most. Out of all of the horrible arenas they've created in the years that have passed, what will he think of to use to torture us? I shuddered just thinking about it. Cato's arms tightened when he felt me shudder and kissed my head soothingly.

"Come on we need some sleep before tomorrow." he said softly in my ear. I nodded and pulled away to get changed into pajamas as he left the room. When I was done I didn't even wait for him to return. I just got into bed and pulled the covers over me.

~Cato~

After I was done getting changed, which was just some pajama pants, I saw that Katniss was already in bed, curled tightly into a ball with the covers over her. My heart broke at the sight. The Games have really killed her fire. She used to be strong, fierce, and ready to take on anything. She was a fire, burning hot and bright, but now she's like a match, struggling to stay lit. Before the Games I had never seen her cry before, but after I found her with Peeta, she's been broken. I've never seen a person cry as much as she has lately, and it's all because of the Games, because of Snow. I walked over to the bed quietly, not wanting to wake her if she was already asleep. But as I lifted the blankets and slid in beside her, she turned to face me, her eyes still closed. I gently took her arms away from her legs and pushed her legs away from her body so she wasn't in a tight ball anymore. Once she was unwound I pulled her close to me, and she clung back in return. Hopefully seeing Luna in a few days will cheer her up. Katniss needs some good in her life right now. Once we get off this train either to her home, my home, or some new home anywhere, we'll be able to live peacefully. Even though we may still be under Snow's thumb of control, we won't be around death and pain anymore.

The next morning we awoke to Effie pounding on our door, shrieking that we overslept. We quickly climbed out of bed and got dressed into something appropriate for our speeches. I was put into black pants, shoes, and jacket but an electric yellow button shirt. I should've guessed since District Three is all about technology. When I walked out I saw Katniss in a floor length dress the same color as my shirt, but had small rectangular pieces of plastic placed in a pattern over her dress so she could still move, but made it look reflective. On her feet were silver heels about the color of her eyes. Her hair was down in curls on her shoulders that covered the thin straps of the dress. All in all, she looked amazing, as she does all the time.

"You look beautiful." I complimented as I walked up to her, leaning my head down to kiss her lightly glossed lips. When we pulled away she reached up and wiped any of her gloss from my lips. I licked my lips when she was done and I could still taste a bit of it. "Mint?" I asked with a raised eyebrow at Cinna who stood a few feet away.

"Do you have a problem with it?" He challenged with a smirk. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Mint happens to be my favorite." I said looking from him to Katniss before I kissed her again, resting my hands on her hips.

"Keep doing that and I'll have to reapply throughout the day." he said laughing. I pulled away from Katniss put my forehead on hers, looking into her eyes.

"I don't have a problem with that. Do you?" I asked her and she bit her bottom lips, smiling slightly. "I'll take that as a no." I said chuckling.

"Okay you two, we can't have you all hot and bothered before you're speech." Haymitch said walking into the room with Effie and Brutus trailing behind him.

"Too late." Cinna joked and Haymitch glared at him. Cinna raised his hands in defense before turning to leave the room.

"Anyway, you two need to get out there, we can't have everyone waiting." Effie said trying to lighten the mood. She ushered us out of the train and we stepped into the sunlight and it made Katniss' dress shine just like it. Cinna is pure genius. After we gave our speeches we stepped back onto the train so we could relax. All through the speeches I could only think about Katniss' mint flavored lips, mint was already my favorite before, but now there is no way that is going to change. I walked with Katniss back to her room and as soon as the door was shut I spun her around to face me. Before she could even utter a word of surprise I crashed my lips to her's, unable to resist temptation any longer. After a few moments she pulled away, needing to breathe.

"Where did that come from?" she asked chuckling.

"If Cinna is going to keep using that mint flavored gloss, this is going to happen a lot more often." I said seriously. She laughed but when she saw I wasn't laughing she stopped.

"Well I'm not complaining." she said before tilting her head up and kissing my lips once again. This kiss seemed to be more heated, more serious. My hands wrapped around her waist as her's went to my neck and played with the hairs there, making me shiver. I brought a hand up and brushed the hair away from her neck and we started to walk backwards towards the bed. I pulled my hands away from her and took off my jacket and tossing it to the floor before my hands went back to her, searching for the zipper to her dress. Her hands busied themselves by undoing the buttons of my shirt, one by one. I undid the zipper of her dress and let it fall to the ground, leaving her in her strapless bra and panties. I shrugged my shirt off and gently pushed her back onto the bed, pulling away from her mouth and trailing kisses down her jaw, to her neck, and finally to her chest, before going back up to her lips. Her soft moan as I kissed her chest urged me to go further, we've never been this far and I knew this was new to her. So as my hands, which somehow grew a mind of their own, went up to the clasp of her bra, she lightly pushed me away.

"Stop, Cato I can't." she said breathless. I shook my head and pulled away further.

"No it's my fault. I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone that far." I reached down and grabbed my shirt off the floor and held it out to her. She took it and put it on her leaving it open. "If you leave this like that," I started as I reached over and buttoned it up. "I'll get tempted to take it further." I said with a little smirk.

"Eventually, we will. But now it just feels too soon." she said shyly looking away from me. I took her face in my hands and tried to look in her eyes. But she kept them closed. I leaned in and kissed her eyelids lightly and she finally opened them.

"Hey, I've waited for you since the day you left to go back to your District back when we were in the Academy. I can wait for _that_ for as long as you want." I whispered to her and she looked at me surprised.

"Really?"

"Really." I said then kissed her lightly. "You've changed me Kat, but for the better. Before you I wouldn't have waited. But after meeting you, I don't want to be who I used to be. I was an arrogant jerk who always got what he wanted, no matter what. Here, now, with you, I like who I'm becoming. I'm becoming somebody better, because of and for you." I admitted to her, pouring out my feelings to her. It was something new to me, but I liked it. It felt good.

"I like who you are now. You said yourself that you were a jerk, but you aren't anymore. You care about people, about me. I like that, I love you." she said putting her hand on my cheek.

"I love you too." I replied rubbing my nose to her's. She scrunched it and giggled. "Come on, let's go explore District Three." I suggested standing up and going to the bathroom to fix my hair to look presentable.

"We've already seen it. Can't we just stay in today?" she practically begged from her position on the bed. I turned back to her, shutting off the light in the bathroom. I walked over and leaned down, resting my hands on the bed and leaning on them so I was level with her face. I smiled at her and chuckled.

"Fine, we can stay in today." I said.

"Yes!" she said triumphantly.

"Only," her face dropped a little. "If you'll go swimming with me in the ocean after our speeches when we get to Four." I suggested to her and she thought about it before nodding, I smiled at her and kissed her lips.

"Come on, get dressed and let's get something to eat in the dining car." I said taking her hand and pulled her up off the bed and dragged her over to the closet.

"You know if you're going to be sleeping in here, why don't you bring some of your clothes in here?" she said and I thought about it.

"Yeah, give me my shirt and I'll be right back with my clothes." I said holding my hand out for it.

"You need your shirt for that why?"

"Because they'll get the wrong idea if they see me shirtless."

"Let them get the wrong idea." she challenged. I smirked and kissed her head.

"Fine, but only because you look really hot in my clothes." I said and she shoved me towards the door.

"Go get your stuff." she said and I walked out the door. Before I shut it I took one last glance at her to see her looking at her closet trying to decide what to wear. I shut the door and turned to mine only to find a Haymitch and Brutus staring at me, both with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Any particular reason why your shirtless?" Haymitch questioned.

"A couple can't have a hot make out session?" I questioned back with a small chuckle.

"So what are you doing here and not in there?" Brutus asked waggling his eyebrows before Haymitch smacked him in the gut.

"Things got too heated and I'm going to get some of my clothes to move into her room." I explained

"You. Will. Not!" shrilled an appalled Effie down the hall.

"Effie calm down." Haymitch warned.

"There is absolutely no way these two are moving into the same room. They are too young."

"They sleep in the same room already. What's the harm in moving in? And I think they grew up quite a bit in the Games Effie." Brutus defended.

"Well if she get's pregnant I blame all of you." she scolded, pointing a long manicured finger at all of us before she walked away. Her heals clicking behind her.

"There isn't a chance she could get pregnant right?" Haymitch asked with a warning tone in his voice, I have no doubt that if I get Katniss pregnant when we aren't married, he'll kick my ass.

"No, we aren't going that far. No need to worry." I assured them before opening the door to my room and gathering some of my clothes then going back into Kat's room to see what she was doing. She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed wearing a loose, light pink, short sleeve, v-neck top and a pair of black pants that were very fitting. She looked up at me and smiled as I walked over and sat next to her on the bed. I set the clothes in my arms on the bed behind me and grabbed a gray shirt off the top and slipped it on. We sat there for a few moments and I slung my arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head on mine.

"So are you hungry?" I asked her.

"Yeah a little bit. How about you?" she replied and I shrugged with her still on my shoulder, making her giggle.

"I could eat." I stood up and pulled her up with me. "Come on, let's go see what there is to eat." I suggested and together we walked out of our room to the dining car. After we had eaten some strange but tasty Capitol food we went back to our room and just relaxed. I laid back on the bed with my head propped up in the pillows and held my arms out for Katniss to come to me. She crawled up to me and lied down next to me, cuddling into my side. After a few moments of silence, I spoke up.

"What do you think will happen after the tour? After all of this is over?" she was silent before answering my question.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"I've thought about it. In two different ways."

"Oh?

"If there were no Hunger Games. The only way I would have met you is if I went with my dad on one of his inspections in your District. Our relationship would have started differently. I wouldn't have been training so I wouldn't have been the jerk that I was. You might even had been different too. We would have dated and I would have taken every chance I could to visit you. We would've fought but it wouldn't matter because we would work through it. We would have gotten married, had a few kids, maybe have a house in both Districts so we could live in both if we wanted. That way we could be near our families all the time," I explained my dream to her and she was quiet as I described it.

"That sounds nice," she mumbled into my chest.

"I thought so too."

"But since there is the Games and we met the way we did..."

"After this I still see us getting married and having kids, if you ever want them. But until then I see us living in District Twelve so you can be near your sister, making trips every now and then back to Two. We would leave the Tribute mentoring to our mentors so we can relax and get used to things. Then in the future we can talk about the rest of our lives." I felt her chuckle against me and I held her tighter.

"What if Snow has some horrible plan for us?" she asked and I didn't know what to say.

"I don't know. We just have to think positive."

"Like how? Like making us get married at such a young age?" she asked sarcastically.

"Would that be so bad?" I asked, poking her side, making her giggle.

"Cato, we're only sixteen."

"People got married at that age way before our grandparents were even born. It wasn't exactly unheard of."

~Katniss~

I'm not going to lie, what Cato was saying was starting to get to me. I'm not ready to get married. Yes I love him and yes I want to be with him but marriage? At sixteen? I'm not ready, and he was talking about it like it was nothing. I pulled away from him and sat up to look at him.

"But that was in the past, way in the past."

"You're sounding like you don't want to marry me. Is that what you want? To not marry me?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Not now at least. We just got out of a life or death situation and you're talking about marriage."

"We're only talking about it if Snow makes us do it. It's not like we're going to have a choice."

"And what if Snow doesn't make us get married? Huh? What then? Are you still going to want to get married at this age?" I questioned him as I got off the bed and paced the room.

"I don't know. I want to marry you eventually. And if Snow makes us, well dream come true."

"You'd be okay with him forcing me into something I'm not ready for? Seriously?" I snapped at him, what is going through his head right now? Doesn't he realize I'm not ready?

"Katniss, we wouldn't have a choice. Ready or not we'd have to do what he says." he sat up and tried to grab my hand as I paced but I pulled away from him.

"But you wouldn't fight would you?" I asked him and he was silent, he just sat there and looked at his hands in his lap. I scoffed and nodded. "That's what I thought." I walked away from him and stormed out of the room, ignoring him calling my name. I slammed the door behind me and stood there, waiting for him to come after me, but he didn't. So I kept walking, I walked through the cars of the train until I came to the Look-Out car, it's the car that has a glass ceiling, I slid down and looked at the sky. I hadn't realized that it was so late in the afternoon. It was almost dark outside. I watched the sky as it faded from blue, to orange, to pink, to purple, then to black with stars popping up here and there. Cato was right, if Snow made us do it, we wouldn't have a choice, but I still thought Cato would try to, want to fight for me. I thought he cared about me that much. But what if this is all because of the Games, it's all for the show and he's faking it behind the scenes to I'll believe it and it'll be more believable. I don't want to believe that, I don't want to think that Cato would do something so cruel to me after what we had been through. But this is Cato, the guy who hated me back when we first met. But he is also the guy who was so sweet to me during and after the Games, and again that could have been an act.

With all of these thoughts running through my head, I sat in the Look-Out car curled up on the floor, leaning against the wall as I looked up at the stars. Why hasn't anybody come to find me yet? Haymitch knows that when I'm upset to leave me be. But Cato doesn't. So why hasn't he come? I felt the train move and I knew it was time to head to District Four. If Cato and I don't work things out soon, we won't go swimming in the ocean together. I was looking forward to it. My neck was getting tired and so were my eyes. So still curled into a ball, I leaned over until I was laying on the ground, still in a ball, and let my eyes drift closed.


	13. I Told You So

~Haymitch~

Brutus and I were sitting in the Lounge car talking about the rest of the tour when Cato burst through the door. He looked worried and his hair was a mess. He and Katniss must have had an argument because it had been hours since she burst through here herself, walking briskly through the car and into the next.

"What is wrong boy?" I asked him, getting annoyed at his constant pacing.

"Katniss and I fought, about something so stupid. She left and I haven't seen her since." he said, finally sitting down on the couch across from the chairs Brutus and I were sitting in.

"What did you fight about?" Brutus asked him.

"Our future, talked about marriage and if President Snow would make us do it or not. She said that she isn't ready to get married at our age and I said that if Snow makes us do it then we don't have a choice."

"That was your first mistake." I informed him and he looked at me confused.

"What was?"

"She grew up her entire life not wanting to get married. After what happened with her father dying and her mother being as out of it as she was. She wouldn't let herself love or be loved romantically." I explained to him and he just sat there listening to me.

"Why do you think she didn't like you so much when you two first met?" Brutus questioned him.

"So what do I do now?"

"Well why did she leave?" I asked.

"When I said that we wouldn't have a choice if Snow made us get married, she asked if I would try to fight for her so we wouldn't have to right away. I was quiet for a little too long and she left."

"Why were you so quiet?" Brutus asked him and Cato sighed.

"I was trying to find the right way to tell her that if we don't do what Snow says he could kill everybody she and I care about, that he wouldn't care about what he did as long as we get married. I didn't want to be so blunt about it."

"Look, you may not know this but I do, right now with Sweetheart as mad as she is, the best you can do is just leave her alone. Okay? She's somewhere on the train, now just let her cool off and come back to you."

"And if she got off the train before it started to move?" he asked, being a smart ass.

"Now it's time to go look." Brutus said before getting up and leaving the car.

~Brutus~

I got up and left the Lounge car. I knew exactly where Spitfire would be, it's where she went the last time she got upset on the tour. The Look-Out car. I looked through the window of the door and saw her curled up on the floor in a ball. I opened the door as quietly as I could and walked over to her. Sighing, I separated her arms and legs so I could pick her up and carry her through the train. She stirred in her sleep as I walked but fell back asleep and curled herself into me. When I got back into the Lounge car, Cato was still sitting there with Haymitch. He picked his head up from his hands and stood up when he saw Spitfire in my arms. He reached out to take her from me but I pulled back.

"Maybe you should sleep in your own room tonight." I warned him.

"Where was she?" he asked.

"The same place she was the last time she got mad on a tour, and you found her."

"The Look-Out car."

"Yep. Curled up into a ball on the floor." he nodded and stepped out of the way for me to walk to her room to put her to bed.

"Wait!" he called and he came up to her head, kissing it lightly. "I love you." he whispered and Haymitch stepped in.

"Alright boy, get to bed." Cato gave Haymitch the "yes _dad_" look before giving a longing glance at Spitfire. When Haymitch took a threatening step towards Cato, the boy retreated back into his room, shutting it lightly. Haymitch came and opened the door to Spitfire's room for me and I brushed past him to tuck her into bed. I pulled the blankets up to her chin as I felt her shiver, but when she felt no warmth from anybody around her she started to toss and turn so I took a pillow and tuck it under her arm for something to hold on to. When she grabbed a hold of it she stopped squirming and settled into her bed. I walked out of her room and saw Haymitch waiting on the couch.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, tossed and turned for a bit. But I think that's because she's used to Cato being there."

"So how did you get her to calm down?" he asked.

"Just tucked a pillow in with her for something to hold."

"I've never seen her this upset before." Haymitch observed.

"I have, back at the academy." I replied, taking a seat in a chair across from him.

"What was the cause?"

"Cato." I replied and he just nodded in response.

~Cato~

Me and my big mouth. I just had to say something stupid that would make her upset. If Snow makes us get married, we won't have a choice. Simple as that. If I could fight for her freedom I would, but Snow would kill everybody we care about. Katniss has enough trouble after being out of the Games, but when it come to her friends and her family, she wouldn't let them die like that, if at all. When she walked out on me, I was trying to figure out how to say that to her without being so blunt. But she took my silence the wrong way and left. I knew that marriage would be a touchy subject for her because she never wanted to get married.

It was the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep a wink. All I could think about was how Katniss was doing. This was the first time we had slept alone in a long time and I don't even want to think about what dreams are going through her head. But my thoughts were halted when I heard a ear piercing scream, coming from her room. Quick as lightening, I went to her room and shoved the door open to find her thrashing in her bed, pillows all over the floor, and her legs tangled in the sheets. This was the worst nightmare I've ever seen her have. I ran to her side and gently shook her awake, calling her name over and over until her eyes sprang open and her arms threw themselves around me for support.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're safe." I gasped as I held her tight, stroking her hair. When she started crying I held her tighter to me and rocked her back and forth. "You're safe. Shh. It's okay I've got you."

"It was so real. It was horrible." she sobbed and I just kissed her head.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm sorry for earlier too, I was stupid." I admitted as I kept hugging her.

"No, I'm sorry." she sniffed and I pulled away from her to look at her. She wiped her eyes and looked up at me. "I over reacted and I'm sorry. I didn't need to, I was just getting scared and frustrated."

"I shouldn't have pushed the idea of getting married."

"Marriage is something I said I would never do. I've seen what a broken marriage can do to somebody. But..."

"But?" I pressed on.

"But after feeling love and experiencing it, I'm willing to see what it can lead to. I just don't want to get married now when we're still so young." she explained and I nuzzled my forehead against her's.

"I know, but we may not have a choice. If we refuse he'll threaten the ones we care about. I know you don't want it right now but we can't let our families get hurt."

"I'd rather die then see them die." she bit out.

"I know. God forbid but I know."

"So what do we do?" she asked and I shrugged, not sure what to do.

"I guess we just wait and see what Snow wants us to do."

"And until then?" she asked just as the train pulled to a stop. It was still dark out and the clock read three in the morning.

"Until then, we endure the rest of this tour, starting with a swim in the ocean after we give our speeches." I whispered in her ear. "But until _then_ let's get some sleep." she nodded and pulled back the covers, allowing me to get under them with her. I pulled them up to our shoulders and pressed her to me, allowing me to bask in her warmth and the scent of her forest and coal scented hair. After a few minutes her light snores filled my ears. I missed that sound, it reminded me that she was here, safe in my arms. I smiled and kissed her head one more time and closed my eyes so I could go to sleep.

Then next morning when we woke up it was Haymitch and Brutus opening the door. I had been awake for a while, just holding Katniss and rubbing my hand up and down her back, keeping her nightmares away. When the two of them opened the door and saw me in her bed they gave me a questioning look and whispered to me.

"How? And you both better not be naked."

"Nightmares and we're clothed." I whispered back.

"Well wake the sleeping beauty, you need to get ready." Haymitch whispered back before walking away, grumbling about needing a drink. After Brutus followed him out I gently shook Kat until she opened her eyes to look at me.

"Hey." she said, bringing her hand up to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. I brought my hand up and brushed some hair from her face before kissing her head lightly.

"Hey. We need to get ready. Do you know what Cinna has for you to wear?" I asked her but she shook her head and yawned.

"How much time do we have?"

"I don't know but we better get ready before Haymitch comes in here to drag us out of bed." I joked but she was serious.

"He'll do it too." she untangled herself from my arms and stood as I got out of bed myself. I held her hand as we both went to the dining car to get breakfast. Haymitch and Brutus were sitting there eating as we walked in. After finishing our food, Cinna whisked Katniss away to get her dressed. I, myself, walked into my room to see a suit left out for me. The jacket and pants were an ocean blue while my shirt, tie, and shoes were black. When I stepped out in my fancy clothes I stood there with Brutus and Haymitch waiting for Katniss to finish getting ready with Cinna. I was adjusting my tie when she stepped out, and she looked beautiful. The color of her dress matched my suit, but there was a design on it that looked like scales, becoming more sheer as the dress fell to the floor. And finally her hair was done up similar to her first interview during the games. My jaw dropped when I saw her as she walked towards me. Her hand reached up and shut my mouth, then placed a light kiss on my lips.

"No need to catch flies Cato." She joked.

"Or fish considering the District." Haymitch corrected and everybody chuckled.

"Well come along you two." Effie said excitedly, dress in a sea foam green dress. "We don't want to keep everybody waiting." Ushering us out of the train and to the Center Square of the District. The smell of sea salt invaded my nostrils as Katniss slipped her hand into mine. I squeezed it as we stepped onto the stage, while most people stood and glared at us. Neither of us had killed their Tributes, they had died in the Bloodbath. But they were both killed by Marvel and Glimmer, and because I was the leader of the Career Pack, I am guilty by association. I dip my head in shame as Katniss delivers her speech, and when I was done with mine we were quickly ushered back to the train. Once the door closes behind us I look at Katniss and smile.

"Ready for a swim?" I ask her and she nods, a tint of a blush creeping on her cheeks.

"There is a bathing suit laid out for you Katniss." Cinna said and she nods, letting go of my hand and walking towards her room. I start to head to my room but I'm stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"You'll need to take a Peacekeeper with you." Brutus informs and Haymitch stands behind him nodding.

"Why? We can take care of ourselves."

"It's not you we're worried about. These citizens aren't very accepting of you because of what happened to their tributes."

"That wasn't our fault. That was Marvel and Glimmer." I seethe as I shrug off his hand. "But fine, I'll take the Peacekeepers." And with that I walk off before either of them could say anything further. I change into a black swimsuit, white shirt, and black shoes. When I step out Katniss is their waiting for me in a brown sun-dress with gold flowers printed on it, coming out of the top of her dress are forest green straps tied around her neck from her bathing suit, brown shoes on her feet, and her hair down in it's natural curls.

"Ready?" she asks and I nod, grabbing towels for us, taking her hand and leading her out of the train, where the mandatory Peacekeepers meet us. Kat gives me a questioning look upon seeing them and I just shake my head, saying I'll tell her later. Our guards lead us to the beach and as the water comes into view, a voice stops us.

"Well aren't you a lovely sight." the flirty voice says. We turn and find the Capitol sex symbol Finnick Odair standing there smiling at us.

"Finnick." Katniss greets, seemingly unaffected by his flirtation.

"No need for the formality Katniss. But I must say you were _ravishing_ on that stage." he continues and I glare at him, taking a threatening step towards him. Katniss is _mine_. She may not react to his flirting, but it still bothers me.

"Cato, calm down." she orders, wrapping her arms around my arm, pulling me away. "Come on let's go." she says and I comply, turning away from Finnick and wrapping an arm around her waist as we walk away.

"I hope to see you soon Katniss." he calls to her.

"You won't!" she retorts and I smirk. We finally make it to the beach and I sigh in relief, laying out the towels and sitting on one of them, gesturing for Kat to join me.

"I never knew you were the jealous type." she grins.

"You have no idea." I reply, turning to face her I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I hated Crone back at the Academy, I always thought he was too close to you." she smirks and kisses my cheek.

"Well I'm yours, and only yours." she whispers.

"Just the way I like it." I say, pecking her lips before reaching to take off my shirt.

"What are you doing?" she asked, eying my chest.

"Going for a swim. You promised remember?" she nods, standing up and shimmying out of her dress. A solid forest green bikini graces her body, and I gulp as she kicks off her shoes. She looks down at me expectantly.

"Well are you coming or are you just gonna stare?" she asks, walking towards the water. I jump up and follow her, wrapping my arms around her and spinning her around in the air before jumping into the water. The water is calm, making it perfect for swimming, I carry us out waist deep before setting her down. I grasp her waist in my hands and she tosses her arms around my neck.

"Finally, I get you all to myself." I whisper, nuzzling my nose into her neck.

"Besides the Peacekeeper." she replies and I pull my face away, but lean my forehead against hers.

"Pretend they aren't here." I whisper and bend down to kiss her. I run my tongue along her bottom lip and she opens to me immediately. As our tongues dance together I run my hand up and down her back, finally coming to the back of her thighs and lifting her up, letting her wrap her legs around my waist. We stand in the ocean kissing like nobody is around until a giant wave barrels us over, knocking us under water. After we are done tumbling through the wave, we come up for air, coughing up salt water.

"What was that?" Katniss asked. I look around and see a boat driving away.

"Looks like somebody didn't like our public display of affection. A boat drove by, probably a local." I explained and she nodded then got a mischievous look on her face and splashed water in my face. And so we spent the next few hours playing around in the ocean until Brutus came to collect us.

"Come on you two time to go!" he shouted and we made our way back to shore. I wrapped the towel around her shoulders and ran it over her head, giving her a peck on her lips. She kept the towel around her shoulder as we walked back to the train. People stopped to stare at the beautiful girl wearing only a bikini and a towel. But I glared at them as I held our clothes and shoes, a towel draped around my neck. They only looked away when I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed her head. She must've noticed how much this bothered me because she stopped walking and pulled me down for a fiery passionate kiss.

Later that night, Katniss slept soundly. Better than she had in a long time. Most nights she would squirm and whimper through the nightmares, and I would always be there to wake her from them. But not tonight, tonight she was peaceful. Maybe it was because we were able to spend the day together, away from anything that really reminded us of the Games, or because she knew that tomorrow she would see Luna, her friend and roommate. The next morning we are woken up by Effie knocking furiously on our door.

"Come on you two! Wake up!" she shouted through the door before I heard her heels walking away. I rubbed my eyes and looked down at Katniss, still asleep on my chest. I leaned down, kissed her head, and whispered in her ear.

"Katniss, wake up. We're in District Five." she started to wake and looked up at me, sleep still in her eyes.

"District Five?"

"Yeah, you get to see Luna today." I said with a smile. She opened her mouth to say something but Effie was back at the door, this time opening it.

"Out of bed you two. You both need to get ready before we're all late." she huffed before storming out of the room. We both sighed and I went to my room to get dressed, passing Cinna as I did. You know, just the usual these days. On my bed was black pants, jacket and shoes, and a royal purple shirt. Interesting choice of color. I got dressed and walked out into the lounge car to see Katniss there waiting for me, dressed in the same color I was but her dress was...wow. It was a long silk dress, falling to the floor, held on her shoulders by thin straps. The dress flowed around her when she moved, shining in the light. The tips of her black shoes could be seen beneath the dress. Her hair was curled and her make-up done lightly, but either way she looked beautiful. She hadn't noticed me yet because she was talking to Cinna, so I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed the side of her neck.

"You look beautiful." I whispered against her skin and she chuckled, turning in my arms and looking at me.

"Not so bad yourself." she complimented and I leaned in for a kiss but was stopped half way.

"Yes yes we all look lovely, now let's go!" Effie screeched. I took Katniss's hand and followed Effie.

"What's with her lately?" I whispered.

"Must be her time of the month." Katniss muttered and we both heard Haymitch and Brutus laugh behind us. We stepped off the train and made our way to the Justice Building in the Town Square. When we got up on stage I could feel Katniss's nerves through her shaking hand. I gave it a tight squeeze then saw Luna in the crowd, right in front. I nudged Katniss and she looked at me, I nodded towards Luna who smiled at her and that seemed to help chase away some of the nerves. After we gave our speeches the two of us walked back to the train, Luna following us from a distance. After we changed into more casual clothes, me in black pants, a dusty green shirt and black shoes, while Katniss wore brown leggings, a dark blue cardigan with a white shirt underneath, a brown belt around her waist, and brown boots, her hair still down in curls. I took her hand and kissed it.

"Ready to see Luna?" I asked her and she sighed, with a smile.

"Yeah, it's been too long." we stepped off the train and there she was waiting for us. She and Katniss gave each other a tight hug before pulling away.

"I was rooting for you the entire time." she said looking at Katniss, then she turned to me with a small smile. "You too. You were my third choice after Clove." she said, her eyes filling with tears, as well as Katniss, as well as me. I stepped forward and took the girls in my arms and gave them a group hug. After we pulled away Luna wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Come on, I want to show you around Five." she said excitedly, taking Katniss's hand towing her along. I walked beside her with my arm around her waist, keeping her close to me. After a while of walking we came to a small cafe where we stopped to get something to eat, allowing Luna to pick for us since she knew what was good. As we ate she eyed Katniss and I, a sly smile on her lips.

"What?" I asked looking at her, but Katniss seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Go ahead. Say it." she said.

"Say what?" I asked looking between them.

"I told you so!" Luna said proudly.

"What am I missing?" I asked.

"I knew that you liked her, even before you did and _she_," Luna said pointing to Katniss. "wouldn't believe me."

"Yes yes you were right. But hey we're together now right?" Katniss replied chuckling. I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled her neck.

"Hell yeah we are." I whispered and she giggled.

"Oh come on, I want you to meet my parents." Luna exclaimed, and we both followed her out into a wealthier part of the District.


End file.
